RIber announces full year earnings
2020 showed limited contraction of 10 percent compared with 2019
Riber, a French MBE equipment firm, has released its full-year earnings for 2020.
2020 full-year revenues came to €30.2m, with a limited contraction of just 10 percent compared with 2019. Despite the operational difficulties resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic, the company was able to respect its production plan, thanks to its adapted organisation, and deliver to its clients within the timeframes set.
MBE system sales showed a good level of resilience, with 10 machines delivered, versus 12 in 2019. The evaporator market remained sluggish due to the current lack of investment in the OLED screen industry. In line with the strategy rolled out by the company, sales of services and accessories further strengthened their organic growth (+25 percent) to reach a record level of €11.7m in 2020, despite the export licenses rejected in December for €1.7m.
Earnings
The gross margin came to €9.1m, representing 30.1 percent of revenues, slightly higher than 2019 (29.6 percent) thanks in particular to the favourable change in the product mix and better productivity.
Operating expenditure is down €0.6m (€8.4m in 2020, vs. €9.0m in 2019), primarily factoring in the reduced level of sales and marketing costs (-18 percent). Administrative costs are up slightly (+6 percent). Gross R&D investments totalled €2.8m, up 16 percent from 2019 to represent 9.4 percent of consolidated revenues.
In this context, operating income came to €0.7m, compared with €0.9m in 2019.
Net income totalled €0.3m, compared with €1.1m in 2019. For 2020, it includes -€0.4m of financial income and expenses, linked primarily to a provision for the exchange rate risk on receivables denominated in US dollars.
Cash flow and balance sheet
The cash position at end-2020 is positive, with €8.0m, up €2.1m from the end of 2019. This change reflects the impact of an increase in working capital requirements, positive cash flow from operations and two government-backed loans (€8.0m) that were taken out and will be repayable from 2022.
Shareholders’ equity is down €0.2m from 2019 to €19.0m. This change is linked to earnings for the year and the distribution of amounts drawn against the issue premium for 2019 to shareholders.
Order book
In 2020, the company faced a significant slowdown in its commercial activity. On the one hand, a number of clients deferred their investment decisions due to the lack of visibility in the context of the health crisis. On the other hand, the French authorities refused to issue several export licenses to the company for a total of €13m for the year.
As a result of these elements, the order book shows a significant contraction, down to €14.4m at December 31, 2020, with MBE system orders (€5.7m) including two research machines and orders for services and accessories (€8.7m) up 26 percent.
Outlook for 2021
The MBE market is still fundamentally buoyant. The company expects to consolidate its order book in 2021, as illustrated by the additional orders for one research machine and two production machines, announced in January, March and April 2021 respectively.
The company will also benefit from investments that will be made in the semiconductor industry as part of stimulus plans. The services and accessories business is expected to continue to progress.
Building on its sound financial structure, the company aims to continue improving its profitability compared with 2020.
