2020 first-half earnings

Bezons, September 30, 2020 – 5:45pm – RIBER, a global market leader for semiconductor industry equipment, is releasing its earnings for the first half of 2020 and its outlook for the full year.

Revenues

In the current context of the health crisis, revenues for the first half of 2020 came to €11.6m, down €2.3m from the first half of 2019. Systems revenues totaled €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 this crisis (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% of revenues, stable compared with the first half of 2019 (29%).

Operating expenditure is down (-5%), thanks primarily to the reduction in sales and marketing costs.
Administrative costs increased slightly (+7%), 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 totaled €(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% 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% 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 totaled €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.

Next date: 2020 third-quarter revenues on October 29, 2020 after close of trading

The condensed consolidated half-year accounts have been subject to a limited review by the statutory auditors. The half-year financial report was approved by the Executive and Supervisory Boards on September 29, 2020. It is available in French on the company website (www.riber.com).

Posted on Wednesday, September 30, 2020 - 17:45 pm