Corporate Contact
Matthias Tröndle
Chief Financial Officer
+423 388 3510
matthias.troendle@inficon.com

• Sales increase of 10.7% (excluding currency- and acquisition effects 14.9%) to USD 139.8 million; operating profit margin of 18%, still considerable excess demand
• Ongoing pressure on margins due to material and supply shortages
• Revised Guidance for 2022: Sales of USD 560-600 (previously 550-600) million; operating profit margin of around 19% (previously over 20%)

The demand for INFICON products remains high. Sales increased in the second quarter of 2022 by 10.7% to USD 139.8 million compared with the same period last year. However, due to the ongoing shortages, output in the second quarter did not reach the targeted potential. Excluding positive effects from acquisitions (+0.4 percentage points) and negative currency impacts (-4.6 percentage points), the organic growth was 14.9%. The investment projects to increase INFICON’s production capabilities are on schedule. These efforts and the massive price war on the purchasing markets continue to put the margins under pressure. Gross profit improved slightly year-over-year for the second quarter from USD 61.1 million to USD 63.4 million, yielding a 3-percentage points lower gross profit margin. The tight cost control led to a 10.1% higher operating profit of USD 25.1 million; the operating profit margin thus remained stable at 18.0% after 18.1% a year ago. The net profit of USD 19.9 million (previous year USD 17.6 million) lead to a slightly higher net profit margin of 14.2% after 13.9% last year. Earnings per share rose to USD 8.14 after USD 7.20 recorded at the end of June 2021.

Cash flow and Balance Sheet

INFICON generated an operating cash flow of USD 11.9 million after USD 29.9 million in the same quarter of last year. The decline is caused by the necessary and significant build-up of inventories as well as the reduction of provisions and liabilities. Working capital was USD 163.7 million or 29.3% of sales (previous year 28.2%). This mirrors mainly the significant increase in sales and inventories as well as the high capacity utilization in production. After the distribution to the shareholders in April, INFICON’s equity ratio is 58.5% after 61.7% a year ago.

Development in the target markets and world areas

INFICON is pleased with the development in all target markets: The boom in the Semi & Vacuum Coating market continues, supported by the ongoing investments into new production capacities and the continuous demand from chipmakers. Sales in INFICON’s largest target market rose by 17.4% year-over-year to USD 74.4 million. This market thus contributed 53.2% to group sales in the second quarter. Compared with the preceding first quarter of this year, sales increased by 3.9%. Sales generated with customers in the industrially broadly based General Vacuum market rose in the second quarter by 22.8% to USD 37.2 million over the same period of last year. Compared with the first quarter, sales declined by 3.4%. This is mainly due to the weakness of the Euro. This market contributed 26.6% to Group sales. Compared with the first quarter, sales in the Refrigeration, Air Conditioning & Automotive market rose by 3.5%; the year-over-year comparison reveals a decline of 9.5% to USD 23.9 million that is again partially due to currency effects. This is equivalent to 17.1% of Group sales. Both, on a yearly (-30.6%) and quarterly (-15.7%) basis, sales to the Security & Energy market declined to USD 4.3 million. The development on this market is marked by large public sector orders. INFICON expects considerable sales increases for the second half of the year.

The sales breakdown by world regions pinpoints an ongoing strong business trend in Asia. With sales of USD 69.0 million and a plus of 20.8% year-over-year and 10.2% over the first quarter, INFICON generated almost 50% of sales in this area. Due to the political uncertainties, issues in the global logistics market, and with a view to the semiconductor business cycle, INFICON is closely monitoring the developments here. The sales trend for Europe shows a decline of 12.5% to USD 35.0 million for the second quarter compared with the first quarter of the year. In the wake of the war in the Ukraine, this is mostly attributable to rising concerns about inflation and hence the weakness of the Euro. Year-over-year, sales generated in Europa rose by 5.7%, and 25% of Group sales were generated here. The business in Amerika remained stable and contributed with USD 34.7 million just under a quarter to the consolidated sales.

Half-year

INFICON’s sales grew by 11.7%, adjusted for currency and acquisition effects by 14.8% to USD 278.1 million in the first six months. The major drivers were the strong semiconductor and general vacuum business in Asia. The half-year results also reflect the pressure on the margins. The gross margin fell to 46.2% from 49.1% a year ago. The operating profit margin, however, remained practically constant with 18.9% after 19.0% recorded for the first six months of 2021, as well as the net profit margin that came in at 14.8% after 14.9% a year ago. Earnings per share rose from USD 15.22 at the end of June 2021 to now USD 16.80.

Outlook

INFICON assesses the developments despite the ongoing shortages on the purchasing markets and the political uncertainties positively. The record-high order backlog, the positive effects from the newly added capacities and investments into more flexible production processes, as well as public sector orders in the security market should lead to continuously rising sales in the second half of this year. INFICON expects for the full year 2022 sales of USD 560-600 million and an operating profit margin of around 19%. 

Half-year report, Presentation, Web Conference

The half-year report of INFICON Holding AG as well as the presentation to the second quarter and half-year results are available online in the Investor Relations section of the INFICON Website www.inficon.com under https://ir.inficon.com/financial-results-and-presentations/.

INFICON discusses the first quarter results 2022 in greater detail this afternoon at 15.00 CEST in an English language web conference. You can access the MS Teams conference using the following links:

http://bit.ly/IFCN_WebConference

https://ir.inficon.com/conference-calls-or-webcasts/

Communication Calendar 2022

The communication calendar of INFICON is continuously updated and available online in the Investors’ section of the INFICON website, https://ir.inficon.com/financial-calendar/

E-Mail Alerts

To automatically receive notification via e-mail of the latest financial information from INFICON, sign-up for news in the Investors section of the INFICON website at https://ir.inficon.com/contact-and-information-request/

About INFICON        

INFICON is a leading provider of innovative instrumentation, critical sensor technologies, and Smart Manufacturing/Industry 4.0 software solutions that enhance productivity and quality of tools, processes and complete factories. These analysis, measurement and control products are essential for gas leak detection in air conditioning/refrigeration, and automotive manufacturing. They are vital to equipment manufacturers and end-users in the complex fabrication of semiconductors and thin film coatings for optics, flat panel displays, solar cells and industrial vacuum coating applications. Other users of vacuum based processes include the life sciences, research, aerospace, packaging, heat treatment, laser cutting and many other industrial processes. We also leverage our expertise in vacuum technology to provide unique, toxic chemical analysis products for emergency response, security, and environmental monitoring. INFICON is headquartered in Switzerland and has world-class manufacturing facilities in Europe, the United States and China, as well as subsidiaries in China, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea, Liechtenstein, Mexico, Singapore, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, the United Kingdom and the United States. INFICON registered shares (IFCN) are listed on SIX Swiss Exchange. For more information about INFICON and its products, please visit www.inficon.com.

This press release and oral statements or other written statements made, or to be made by us contain forward-looking statements that do not relate solely to historical or current facts. These forward-looking statements are based on the current plans and expectations of our management and are subject to a number of uncertainties and risks that could significantly affect our current plans and expectations, as well as future results of operations and financial condition. We undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.