Schweizer Electronic AG: Business performance in the first quarter of 2022

- The volume of orders increased by 56 percent compared to the previous year

- Sales up 18.6 percent in the first quarter

- EBITDA ratio improved moderately to -6.0 percent compared to the first quarter of the previous year – Group profitability excluding China is clearly positive

- Forecast for 2022 confirmed

Schramberg, 6 May 2022 – The SCHWEIZER Group had a good start to the current year.

The volume of orders increased to EUR 196.3 million at the end of the quarter, which corresponds to an increase of +56.2 percent as at 31 March 2021 or +2.3 percent compared to the end of the year (31 December 2021: EUR 191.8 million). The incoming orders amounted to EUR 41.7 million in the first quarter of 2022 (Q1 2021: EUR 44.2 million).

Sales of the SCHWEIZER Group amounted to EUR 34.8 million in the first quarter of 2022 (Q1 2021: EUR 29.3 million). This corresponds to an increase of +18.6 percent compared to the same quarter in the previous year. Automotive customers generated sales of EUR 24.1 million (Q1 2021: EUR 23.0 million), which corresponds to an increase of +4.6 percent compared to the same quarter in the previous year. Automotive customers represented around 69 percent of sales in the first quarter of 2022 (Q1 2021: around 78 percent). At the same time, the share of sales generated by industrial customers increased significantly to 23 percent (Q1 2021: 17 percent).

Gross profit in the first quarter amounted to EUR -1.0 million (Q1 2021: EUR -1.0 million), which corresponds to a negative gross margin of -2.8 percent (Q1 2021: -3.3 percent). Compared to the same quarter in the previous year, the increased start-up costs of the plant in China had a negative impact on the Group income with a gross profit loss of EUR -4.8 million. The Group’s gross profit excluding China amounted to EUR +3.8 million, which corresponds to an improvement in gross profit of EUR +0.9 million compared to the first quarter of the previous year. The good capacity utilisation situation at the Schramberg site made a decisive contribution to this development.

Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) amounted to EUR -2.1 million (Q1 2021: EUR -1.8 million), whereby the EBITDA ratio improved moderately to -6.0 percent (Q1 2021: -6.2 percent). Excluding China, the Group achieved an EBITDA of EUR +1.7 million (Q1 2021: EUR +2.1 million).

Equity increased to EUR 13.7 million (31 December 2021: EUR 9.7 million). The equity ratio improved by +1.8 percentage points to 7.1 percent. The main reason for this development was a capital increase at the subsidiary in China carried out in January as a result of a capital investment of around 13 percent by the anchor shareholder WUS Printed Circuit (Kunshan) Co., Ltd.

Forecast confirmed
Management confirms the forecast made as part of the publication of the 2021 financial figures. Despite the wide variety of challenges and uncertainties for the global economy and for the markets relevant to SCHWEIZER, the company continues to expect sales growth of +10 to +20 percent compared to 2021 and an EBITDA margin of -4 to +1 percent, whereby the risk-reward ratio has worsened somewhat due to the consequences of the Ukraine crisis and the increased lockdowns in China.

About SCHWEIZER
Schweizer Electronic AG offers the latest, cutting-edge technology and consultancy expertise in the PCB industry. Thanks to its state-of-the-art production facilities in Schramberg, Germany and Jintan, China as well as close partnerships with other technology leaders, SCHWEIZER provides individual PCB & Embedding solutions. SCHWEIZER's innovative PCB technologies are used in the most demanding applications, for example, in the Automotive, Aviation, Industry & Medical and Communications & Computing sectors, and are characterised by their extremely high quality and energy-saving and environmentally-friendly features.

The company was founded by Christoph Schweizer in 1849 and is listed at the Stuttgart and Frankfurt Stock Exchanges (ticker symbol „SCE“, „ISIN DE 000515623“).

For further information please contact:

Elisabeth Trik
Schweizer Electronic AG
Einsteinstraße 10
78713 Schramberg
Phone: +49 7422 / 512-302
E-mail: elisabeth.trik@schweizer.ag
Please visit our website: www.schweizer.ag
Picutres: Schweizer Electronic AG | Flickr