Weakened demand led to a decline in sales for Aspocomp

Aspocomp recorded sales of EUR 5.9 million during the third quarter of 2020, down 12% from EUR 6.7 million during the same period last year. EBITDA during the quarter amounted to EUR 0.5 million, a decline of 32% from EUR 0.8 million during the third quarter in 2019. The company’s operating result for the third quarter of 2020 decreased significantly and ended up at EUR 0.1 million, compared with EUR 0.5 million for the same period last year. “Third-quarter net sales decreased by 12 percent to EUR 5.9 million. Demand varied greatly between different customer segments. The Semiconductor Industry segment grew to become the largest customer segment in the quarter,” says CEO Mikko Montonen, in a press release. “During the COVID-19 pandemic, increased use of remote access devices will increase demand for semiconductor components. Likewise, the rapid development of digitalization is leading to the renewal of artificial intelligence and 5G semiconductor components and increasing their testing needs. Net sales of the Semiconductor Industry segment amounted to EUR 1.6 million, a year-on-year increase of over 80 percent,” the CEO continues. Net sales in Aspocomp’s Telecommunications segment amounted to EUR 0.9 million, a decrease of approximately 60%. The PCB manufacturer says that this is mainly due to the timing of customers’ product development projects during the summer vacation months. Adding to this, Asian PCB mass suppliers have still had overcapacity due to the weaker market situation, which allowed them to exceptionally respond to changing customer needs. Aspocomp says it expects the oversupply situation to ease, but not completely disappear before the COVID-19 pandemic subsides and the economy recovers. The Automotive segment continued to face difficulties, and net sales decreased by approximately 30 % to EUR 1.1 million. Net sales of the Industrial Electronics segment amounted to EUR 1.1 million, a decline of about 15%. However, in the Security, Defense and Aerospace segment, demand continued to grow, and net sales amounted to EUR 1.1 million; a sales increase by about 60%. “The COVID-19 pandemic and the weakened economy continues to make it difficult to assess customer needs, and visibility into demand for the rest of the year is limited. Despite the exceptional circumstances, we have continued to invest in capacity and increased our product development investments in new products and more challenging technologies,” Mr. Montonen says.