Oct 22, 2014 / 5:00 CET/CEST
Bad Ragaz/Switzerland, October 22, 2014
More precisely stated year-end forecast
INFICON Holding AG (SIX Swiss Exchange: IFCN) recorded a sales increase of 5.6% in the third quarter 2014 to USD 72.7 million. Compared with the same period of last year, sales grew organically by 4.3% adjusted for foreign exchange (+0.3 percentage points) and acquisition effects (+1.0 percentage point), but missed the strong second quarter 2014 sales level by 2.9%. INFICON's order book for the coming months is strong; the company expects a solid last quarter and full-year sales in the range of USD 295-305 million (previously 290-320 million) and an operating profit of USD 46-50 million (previously 44-56 million).
Third quarter results with strengthened operating profit margin of 15.8%
After slightly higher sales and administration costs and almost unchanged investments into research and development, INFICON records for the third quarter an operating profit of USD 11.5 million. This translates into an improved margin of 15.8% of sales. Lower tax expenses led to a net profit of USD 9.0 million or an improved margin of 12.4% of sales compared with the 9.2% recorded a year ago. Net profit for the year amounted fully diluted to USD 3.86 after USD 2.71 for the third quarter 2013.
Balance sheet with strong equity ratio
INFICON's balance sheet continues to feature no long-term debt. It closed the period with net cash of USD 66.9 million and an equity ratio of 79.8%, slightly up compared with the level at mid-year. The net working capital amounted to 23.5% of sales at the end of September. As in the preceding quarter, the average days sales outstanding improved again by 0.5 days to now 46.6 days. INFICON generated a remarkable operating cash flow of USD 11.9 million compared with USD 8.3 million a year ago.
Record high sales in the Refrigeration & Air Conditioning market
The sales to the Specific Vacuum Process Industries market increased in the third quarter year-over-year by USD 2.0 million to USD 24.0 million, but did not fully reach the USD 25.1 million generated in the second quarter 2014. Besides a solid vacuum coating market and a stable end consumer business, INFICON expects to see increasing demand from equipment manufacturers for the coming months. The photovoltaic market remains under pressure. In the General Vacuum Processes market, INFICON compensated the slower activity in Europe with globally rising direct sales. With USD 28.6 million, the sales generated in this end market remained largely stable compared with the preceding second quarter and grew by 1.4% year-over-year. The sales generated in the Refrigeration & Air Conditioning market developed very positively. Including the successful supply to the automotive industry, the sales generated in this market reached a new record level with USD 13.8 million. Compared with the same period of last year, this represents an increase of 10.4% and a plus of 3.0% over the preceding quarter. Sales to customers in the Emergency Response & Security market show a 3.3% increase to USD 6.3 million over the same period of last year.
INFICON technology for a new market
In the reporting quarter, INFICON has launched the marketing for an innovative, portable and explosion-proof methane leak detector. The new instrument is ideal for the efficient control of e.g. utility gas pipes: INFICON IRwinTM combines various integrated INFICON sensor technologies and delivers rapidly and precisely selective analytic results.
Presentation slides ready for Download
Presentation slides discussing the third quarter results 2014 in more detail are available for download in the Investor Relations section of the INFICON website www.inficon.com at http://phx.corporateir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=124424&p=irol-IRHome.
Conference Call
INFICON's group management will provide a detailed presentation of the third quarter results today at 09:30 a.m. CEST. Participants can dial in at:
Europa: +41 (0)58 310 5000
UK: +44 (0)203 059 5862
USA (Toll free): +1 (1)866 291 4166
USA (local): +1 (1)631 570 5613
All participants should dial in at least 10 minutes prior to the call. There is no PIN required to access the call. A live webcast of the conference call and the presentation visuals are available in the
Investor section of the INFICON website at www.inficon.com where the webcast will later also be
archived.
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