VAT continues on strong growth path with Q3 net sales Up 29% over high Q3 2016 Dienstag, 17. Oktober 2017 - 07:00

Q3 2017 highlights

• Continued strong demand for high-vacuum valves from equipment suppliers to semiconductor and display panel manufacturers drives substantial increase in VAT’s business
• Q3 order intake up 30% year-over-year, net sales increase 29%

Nine months 2017 highlights

• VAT continues to benefit from its No. 1 market position
• Nine months order intake up 40% year-over-year, net sales increase 35%

VAT confirms Outlook 2017

• Sales growth of around 30% expected at constant FX
• Adjusted EBITDA margin to be maintained approximately at the same level as in 2016
• CAPEX to be around 6% of net sales

VAT Group

Market conditions remain favorable

Customers continue to expand manufacturing capacity in semiconductors and displays, driven both by increasing demand for digital products as well as technology innovations in areas such as solid state memory devices and OLED. VAT remains well-positioned to capture these growth opportunities, with strong customer relationships, leading technology and quality, and the broadest product portfolio in the industry. The company’s ability to rapidly adapt capacity while maintaining quality in a high-growth market also contributed to the strong performance.

At the end of the third quarter of 2017, VAT’s order backlog was CHF 179 million, a plus of about 6.5% compared with the end of June 2017. Orders in the quarter grew 30% to CHF 179 million. Group net sales in the quarter amounted to CHF 167 million, an increase of 29%. These growth rates were achieved despite the comparison against an already-strong third quarter in 2016. Excluding foreign exchange (FX) movements in the third quarter, VAT’s net sales growth was about 2.5 percentage points higher than the reported number. For the first nine months of 2017, FX movements had no impact on net sales.

Growth in all business segments

The Valves segment again reported the strongest net sales growth in the third quarter, up 31% to CHF 130.7 million. Net sales grew 29% in Global Service to CHF 26.6 million. The Industry segment’s net sales were up 6% to CHF 9.6 million. During the third quarter, Valves accounted for 78%, Global Service for 16% and Industry for 6% of Group net sales.

Within the Valves segment all business units posted higher results. The Modules business unit reported the highest percentage change, followed by Semiconductors, then General Vacuum. In absolute terms, the biggest growth contributor was Semiconductors, followed by Display & Solar.

Global Service grew net sales in all its three activities. Spare parts grew fastest and represent about 53% of total segment net sales. The retrofit and the maintenance business posted similar growth rates as larger-scale retrofits inquiries from previous quarters materialized.

In the Industry segment, net sales growth is driven by the mechanical components business followed by edge-welded bellows

Outlook for the rest of 2017 confirmed

Business conditions in VAT’s markets continue to be favorable. Long-term growth drivers such as digitalization, cloud computing, internet of Things and e-mobility are becoming even more prominent in our daily lives. Leading digital device and display manufacturers continue to invest in fabrication expansion and technology upgrades, and VAT expects to remain a main beneficiary of these developments for the rest of 2017 and beyond.

For the full year 2017, VAT expects to grow net sales by around 30% at constant foreign exchange rates. The company also expects to maintain its adjusted EBITDA margin at approximately the same level as in 2016, as the benefits of strong net sales growth are offset by significant investments in future growth. Capital expenditure for the full year is expected to be around 6% of net sales temporarily above the target level of 4% of net sales, as the expansion of the plant in Malaysia is being accelerated.

Segment data

Valves

Global Service

Industry