Riber reports first half 2014 revenues
€4.8m faced with a significant market downturn
Riber has recorded €4.8 million in revenues for the first half of 2014, including €3.0m for the second quarter of 2014 (compared to €5.1 m in the second quarter of 2013).
The molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) systems business is reporting a reduction in sales for the first half of the year compared with 2013, in view of a very difficult economic context and of a delivery plan focused on the second half of the year. €2.1 million in reported revenues corresponds to billing for two research systems. During the first half of the year, Riber also produced three systems ordered for a total of €3.2 million, which, for contractual reasons, will be delivered and billed during the second half of 2014.
Sales of services and accessories (€2.3 million) together with sales of cells and sources (€0.4 million) are down 13 percent for the first half of the year overall compared with 2013, due to the weak level of demand from industrial customers. This contraction has been limited by the development of sales to research centers and laboratories, driving strong year-on-year growth in the order book.
Frederick Goutard, chairman of the board, said: "Faced with a significant market downturn, Riber's management team is highly focused on facing the operational and business challenges. The first half of the year was marked by the adoption of the new Compact 21 DZ, as well as an upturn in orders at the end of the second quarter, confirming Riber's leading position for research markets.
"However, as these commercial achievements are not expected to offset the sharp contraction affecting industrial markets, our company is rolling out a savings plan in line with the situation, is reducing both manufacturing lead-times and working capital requirements with the introduction of Lean Manufacturing and is further strengthening a determined commercial approach across all its product lines, including OLED" he said.
Outlook
During the second quarter of 2014, Riber received an order for four MBE research systems in China, Turkey and South Africa. At June 30th, 2014, the order book represented €8.0 million, including eight systems. An additional order for a research system to be delivered in 2014 was recorded in July and announced on July 15th. Riber says it is moving forward with the implementation of its diversification strategy, signing distribution agreements for thin-film deposition products with complementary technologies to MBE.
