After reporting revenue for first-half 2013 in late July, Riber S.A. of Bezons, France, which manufactures molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) systems as well as evaporation sources and effusion cells, has now reported its earnings for the period.
In the context of a slowdown in demand from industrial customers, revenue was €7.8m, down 17% on €9.4m first-half 2012.
During first-half 2013, five MBE machines were delivered, down on six in first-half 2012 (including a production machine). Systems revenue fell 25% from €6.4m to €4.8m.
Driven by the sales action plan rolled out since 2012 and reflecting the development of sales to research laboratories, Revenue from Services & Accessories rose by 14% from €2.2m to €2.5m, offsetting the slowdown in supplies of services to industrial customers.
Revenue from Evaporation sources & Cells fell from €0.8m to €0.5m, affected by the current lack of investments in the production of organic light-emitting diode (OLED) flat screens and thin-film solar cells. Nevertheless, Riber is maintaining a major research effort focused on these potentially large markets.
Factoring in the change in revenues, half-year gross profit has fallen from €2.8m to €2.2m (28% of revenue). Provisioning for inventories led to a net charge of €0.2m (identical to a year ago). With operating expenses remaining at the same level, net loss doubled from $1m to €2m. However, the strong seasonality of the production plan (focused in 2013 on the end of the year) has had an adverse effect on first-half- earnings, notes Riber.
Cash flow from operations was unable to cover the investments and innovation drive during first-half 2013, as well as the payment of dividends for 2012. Consequently, cash reserves fell by €1.2m to €4.1m during first-half 2013. However, Riber remains free of debt.
At the end of August, order backlog was €13.5m (up from €12.1m at the end of 2012), with 13 research systems to be delivered (mostly in 2013). In view of the program for deliveries between now and the end of this year, full-year 2013 revenue is expected to be €24-26m, down on €27.4m but enabling Riber to record a profit over the full year.
To strengthen its commercial positions in Asia, at the start of September Riber opened a subsidiary in South Korea. Previously, a representation office in China was set up in 2009.
