New and established business segments delivered for technotrans in the first half of 2015, leading to a hike in profits of almost 50 per cent.
New technologies have contributed bulk of growth, it says, reporting an increase in its operating profit (EBIT) of 49.6 per cent to 4.4 million Euros, a margin of 7.4 per cent and "wholly in line with plans".
Revenue increased by 11.1 per cent to 60.3 million Euros. For the year as a whole, the technotrans board says it expects the performance indicators to be at the top end of the ranges forecast.
"After a strong start to the year we have made steady business progress amid a challenging environment," chief executive Henry Brickenkamp says.
The consolidated result after tax for the first half of 2015 was 3.0 million Euros, representing a 58.1 per cent increase on the previous year. The rate of return was 4.9 per cent - previous year 3.5 per cent - and revenue grew by 9.4 per cent to 29.8 million Euros in the second quarter.
The operating result (EBIT) for the quarter under review reached 2.1 million Euros, 37.1 per cent up on the corresponding figure for the previous year.
Brickenkamp says revenue for the year to date in the technology segment was up 14.6 percent at 40.3 million Euros. "The strategy adopted of tapping new areas of business outside the printing industry again had a positive effect and contributed the bulk of growth.
"Here, the group's companies between them increased their revenue by roughly 22 per cent. Strong business in the laser industry and growing revenue shares for the self-developed technologies for temperature control, filtration, cooling lubricant preparation and spray lubrication emerged as growth drivers, with 35 per cent of revenue now generated in this area.
Business with customers from the printing industry also progressed well. Revenue grew 7.8 per cent compared with the first half of 2014. Both the successful expansion of market shares in offset printing and growing demand in the area of digital and flexo printing were behind this development. The technology segment's overall revenue share increased from 65 to around 67 per cent in the past 12 months. The operating profit (EBIT) for this area came to 1.1 million Euros in the first half. This contrasts with a loss for the segment of 200,000 Euros for the corresponding period of the previous year. The rate of return for the segment developed positively, reaching 28 per cent at June 30.
Revenue for the services segment grew 4.8 per cent to 20.0 million Euros in the first half of 2015. This increase was driven largely by technology after-sales business. The result for the segment of 3.3 million Euros showed a slight improvement on the prior-year figure of 3.2 million Euros. Only service business in the technical documentation area failed to live up to expectations at the end of the first half.
"All in all, there are very encouraging signs that we will be able to maintain our growth in the second half of the year, too," says Brickenkamp. Assuming a stable economic environment, he offered the prospect of annual revenue of around 120 million Euros for the technotrans Group in 2015. Based on the performance to date, the board expects to achieve an EBIT margin at the upper end of the targets for the year of 6.8 to 7.3 per cent.