A sluggish start to 2015 for Riber
Riber, the French MBE company, has reported €2.7 million in revenues for the first quarter of 2015, up 51 percent from the first quarter of 2014. During the quarter, Riber billed for two research MBE systems for a total of €1.5 million, whereas no research machines were billed during the first quarter of 2014.
Sales of services, accessories and cells (€1.2 million) are down 31 percent from the first quarter of 2014, reflecting the weaker commercial performance with industrial clients and the deferred rollout of the action plan in the US, following the acquisition of MBE Control Solutions at the end of March.
At March 31st, 2015, the breakdown of Riber's revenues was as follows: Asia (70 percent), Europe (25 percent) and the United States (5 percent).
Following a high level of system orders in the fourth quarter of 2014, Riber had a sluggish first quarter in 2015 in preparation to a reverse trend in the second quarter of 2015. On the OLED flat screen markets, orders for prototype equipment are progressing in line with industry expectations.
At March 31st, 2015, the consolidated order book represented €4.5 million (€6.6 million at March 31st, 2014), with four research systems (€2.6 million), orders for services (€1.3 million - excluding contribution by MBE Control Solutions in the US) and orders for cells and sources (€0.7 million), including prototype equipments for industrial clients in Korea in the OLED sector.
