Oerlikon continues to deliver good profitability in challenging market

Strong profitability with an EBITDA margin of 16.3 per cent, and 15th consecutive quarter with an EBITDA margin exceeding 15 per cent.

Dr Brice Koch, CEO of the Oerlikon Group, said, “We delivered good profitability in the third quarter, increased the share of our service business and advanced in aligning the way forward for the Group. Acknowledging and addressing the demanding economic climate, we made further progress in managing our operational efficiency and costs. Our Surface Solutions business is developing well and successfully maintained strong profitability even when facing headwinds from some key markets. In order to mitigate the continuing market challenges, we will be intensifying our efforts to protect our profitability, strengthen our market competitiveness, and increase our operational agility and business resilience.”

3Q review

In the third quarter of 2015, the Group’s order intake came in at CHF 691 million, 16.2 per cent lower compared to the CHF 825 million seen in Q3 2014. Group sales were at CHF 722 million in Q3 2015, a decline of 15.2 per cent year-on-year. At constant exchange rates, sales stood at CHF 761 million, representing a negative currency impact of 5.4 per cent. Despite lower sales, the Group was able to achieve a solid EBITDA of CHF 118 million, correlating to an EBITDA margin of 16.3 per cent. This marks the 15th consecutive quarter with an EBITDA margin exceeding 15 per cent. EBIT for Q3 2015 stood at CHF 74 million (Q3 2014: CHF 88 million). The third quarter performance resulted in a rolling 12-month Oerlikon Group ROCE of 9.3 per cent versus 10.2 per cent in 2014.

The solid performance of the Surface Solutions segment is based on its robust business model. Orders and sales came in marginally below the previous year’s level and segment successfully maintained strong profitability YoY and sequentially, with an EBITDA margin of over 20 per cent for four consecutive quarters. The Manmade Fibers Segment was affected by accelerated market normalisation, which became more evident due to the economic weakness and uncertainties in China, leading to postponements of orders for large scale projects.

The Segment reported declines in orders and sales, but successfully maintained its EBITDA margin at over 16 per cent. The global market conditions in the oil & gas, agriculture and construction sectors continued to develop unfavorably, resulting in further declines in sales and orders for the Drive Systems Segment. The segment maintained its EBITDA margin at around 10 per cent. Vacuum segment recorded lower orders, sales and EBITDA margin year-on-year as a result of weaknesses across its key markets.

In the third quarter of 2015, Oerlikon continued to strengthen its best-in-class businesses, specifically, the Surface Solutions and Manmade Fibers Segments.

The increased focus on the Surface Solutions Segment contributed to reinforcing the Group’s overall profitability and resilience to market cycles, while also providing further growth opportunities. Following the premiere of its joint technology service center in Canada for both competence brands – Oerlikon Balzers and Oerlikon Metco in July, the Surface Solutions Segment opened its first Europe-based automotive competence centre in Slovakia. The Manmade Fibers Segment also continued to enhance its service offering as it began the construction of a new customer service center in Baroda, India, in addition to the previously announced opening of a new service centre in Dalton, USA and a new technology centre in Chemnitz, Germany. With its extended footprint and the improved proximity and service offering to customers, the Group increased its service business in the third quarter of 2015, with service revenues making up 33.4 per cent of total Group sales.