Oerlikon sustains strong profitability

Oerlikon´s order intake is up 17%, with book-to-bill ratio over 1 and its sales have increased by 10.1%.
In the first quarter of 2015, Oerlikon continued to deliver a solid performance in a challenging market environment. Order intake went up by 17.0 per cent to CHF 793 million and sales increased by 10.1 per cent to CHF 782 million. For the 13th consecutive quarter, the EBITDA margin exceeded 15 per cent, coming in at 16.8 per cent. At constant exchange rates, sales increased by 15.4 per cent to CHF 819 million compared to CHF 710 million in Q1 2014. Surface Solutions Segment recorded strong results once again, attributable to both organic growth and the Metco acquisition. Manmade Fibers Segment posted lower sales in line with the anticipated market normalisation but improved its sequential order intake at constant exchange rates and sequential operating profitability. Drive Systems Segment reported sales and orders below prior year´s level due to ongoing weakness in specific markets, but slightly improved its operating profitability year-on-year. Vacuum Segment closed sales below the previous year´s level, substantially improved its operating margin year-on-year and increased its order intake sequentially. Oerlikon CEO Dr Brice Koch said: ´The first quarter results confirm Oerlikon´s ability to sustain its profitability even as the markets continue to be challenging, and the group´s increased order intake led us to a book-to-bill ratio of over one, supporting our profitable growth. The increased ratio of our service business, our innovation pipeline, our stringent cost management as well as the further optimising of our footprint helped strengthen our competitiveness and resilience. Leveraging further on our strong foundation, we will continue to strengthen our presence in the growth markets and regions globally, sustaining profitable growth for the medium to long term.´

Group sales and order intake rose
Group sales in the first quarter were at CHF 782 million, an increase of 10.1 per cent compared to the CHF 710 million reported in Q1 2014. At constant exchange rates, sales went up by 15.4 per cent to CHF 819 million. At segment level, sales trends were mixed: sales in Surface Solutions Segment more than doubled through organic and inorganic growth to reach CHF 300 million. Impacted by both the ongoing anticipated market normalisation and the typical characteristics of large-scale projects, sales in Manmade Fibers Segment declined by 29.7 per cent to CHF 208 million. Both Drive Systems Segment and Vacuum Segment continued to face challenging market conditions and posted sales below the previous year´s level, specifically CHF 183 million (´5.7 per cent) and CHF 91 million (´5.2 per cent), respectively.

The Group´s order intake for the first three months of 2015 increased by 17.0 per cent to CHF 793 million compared to CHF 678 million in Q1 2014. The gain in new orders of over 100 per cent made by Surface Solutions Segment was attributable not only to Metco but also to ongoing organic growth. The other three segments: Manmade Fibers, Drive Systems and Vacuum reported lower orders year-on-year due to the ongoing weakness in the markets in which they operate. Sequentially, Vacuum Segment succeeded in increasing its order intake by 10 per cent in spite of the challenging market environment. At constant exchange rates, all four segments reported an increase in sequential order intake.

Continued strong operating profitability
For the first quarter of 2015, the Group sustained operating profitability with an EBITDA margin of 16.8 per cent. Group EBITDA stood at CHF 132 million, an increase of 6.5 per cent year-on-year. The profitability was achieved despite the absorption of integration effects from the Metco transaction. At segment level, all segments contributed