For third-quarter 2017, Riber S.A. of Bezons, France, which manufactures molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) systems as well as evaporation sources and effusion cells, has reported revenue of €2.8m, up 145% on €1.1m a year ago.
Revenue for the three quarters to end-September 2017 hence amounted to €15.2m, up 87% year-on-year from €8.1m. This strong growth reflects the high level of sales of evaporators (cells and sources) for the photovoltaic and screen industries, as well as the solid trends in sales of services and accessories.
Specifically, revenue from Cells & Sources rose from €1.1m to €9.1m and revenue from Services & Accessories rose by 25% from €3.3m to €4.1m, more than offsetting a 46% drop in Systems revenue from €3.7m to €2m (comprising two research MBE machines billed, compared with two machines including one production unit for the same period in 2016).
Segmenting total revenue by geographic region, 50% came from Asia, 34% from Europe, and 16% from North America.
The order book at the end of September was €26.6m, up 154% on €10.5m a year previously. This includes six MBE systems (including four production machines) worth €10.1m (up 59% on €6.4m a year previously), plus strong growth for evaporators (Cells & Sources) to €10.7m (up from just €1m), and for Services & Accessories to €5.8m (up 87% from €3.1m) following the concrete progress made on several major contracts in third-quarter 2017. Moreover, the order book does not include the two production system orders announced in October.
In view of this, Riber is confirming its targets for full-year 2017, with revenue close to €30m (almost doubling from 2016’s €16.5m) and at least €3m in income from ordinary operations.
