Riber releases half year results
Despite tough year, company is forecasting full-year revenues of around €30m for 2020, compared with €33.5m in 2019
Riber, a semiconductor equipment company, is releasing its earnings for the first half of 2020 and its outlook for the full year.
Revenues for the first half of 2020 came to €11.6m, down €2.3m from the first half of 2019. Systems revenues totalled €5.6m, down €3m from the first half of 2019, with the delivery of one production machine deferred to the third quarter due to sourcing difficulties linked to the pandemic (three machines delivered, compared with four machines in the first half of 2019).
The evaporator market remained sluggish due to the current lack of investment in the OLED screen industry. Services and accessories revenues achieved strong growth (+€1.7m) compared with the first half of the previous year, climbing to €6.0m, in line with the plan to develop this business.
Earnings
The gross margin came to €3.3m for the first half of 2020, representing 28.9 percent of revenues, stable compared with the first half of 2019 (29 percent).
Operating expenditure is down (-5 percent), thanks primarily to the reduction in sales and marketing costs. Administrative costs increased slightly (+7 percent), while gross R&D investments were maintained at a high level of €1.5m.
Income from ordinary operations came to €(1.0)m, down €0.45m versus the first half of 2019.
Net income totalled €(1.1)m, compared with €(0.4)m for the first half of 2019.
Balance sheet
Shareholders’ equity at June 30, 2020 represents €17.4m, compared with €19.2m at December 31, 2019. This change is linked to first-half earnings and the distribution of amounts drawn against the issue premium to shareholders for 2019 (€0.6m).
The cash position at end-June 2020 totaled €6.1m, compared with €2.5m at June 30, 2019. It includes a €6m government-backed loan, which the company has put in place with its banks, in order to consolidate its working capital and mitigate the postponement of order-taking decisions (and the resulting decrease in deposits paid when ordering) due to the health crisis.
Outlook
The order book at June 30, 2020 is down 36 percent from June 30, 2019 to €18.2m. The systems business is marked by the wait-and-see approach adopted by clients, with its order book contracting 42 percent to €12.5m, including seven systems to be delivered in 2020 (two production systems). The Company expects its machine orders to improve in the last quarter thanks to a strong portfolio of prospects.
The order book for services and accessories was €5.7m: this does not include the major order for MBE services in the US, signed up in September 2020. Riber is forecasting full-year revenues of around €30m for 2020, compared with €33.5m in 2019.
