Maschinenfabrik Berthold Hermle AGMaschinenfabrik Berthold Hermle AG

Hermle Group sales up by 6% at the end of September

Hermle Group sales up by 6% at the end of September
New orders down by 12% due to economic situation
Sales and earnings for the whole of 2019 in line with forecast
First effects of weaker demand expected in 2020

Gosheim, 13 November 2019 – In the first nine months of 2019, Maschinenfabrik Berthold Hermle AG raised its Group sales to €334.3 m, an increase of 5.6% compared to the same period last year (previous year: €316.6 m). In Germany, the business volume increased by 13.9% to €150.4 m (previous year: €132 m), while abroad the figure remained slightly below the comparable level at €183.9 m (previous year: €184.6 m). This results in an export quota of 55% (previous year: 58.3%). EBIT for the period from January to September of the current year developed slightly disproportionately to sales due to the still high level of capacity utilisation.

The Hermle Group's incoming orders fell noticeably by 12.2% to €324.5 m (previous year: €369.8 m) during the first three quarters of 2019. Outside Germany, new orders declined only moderately by 2.4% to €200 m (previous year: €205 m). By contrast, there was a sharp drop of 24.5% to €124.5 m (previous year: €164.8 m) in Germany; mainly due to the difficult situation in the automotive industry and its supply sector. The order backlog fell to €138.1 m at the end of September 2019 (previous year: €178.2 m; 31 December 2018: €148 m).

The Hermle Group's financial and assets position continued to be very sound during the reporting period: As per 30 September 2019, the Group had a high equity ratio of 66.7% (previous year: 66.5%). Investments in tangible and intangible assets amounted to €7.6 m (previous year: €7.8 m) in the first nine months of 2019. They mainly concerned Hermle's own machine tools for metal-cutting manufacturing and quality management. Furthermore, work commenced on expanding the premises of the US Hermle subsidiary. 

As per 30 September 2019, Hermle employed 1,313 people throughout the Group, an increase of 78 people compared to last year (previous year: 1,235); this figure included 22 additional apprentices and student trainees. New staff were hired predominantly in the Service sector and at various foreign subsidiaries, as well as for the Assembly team in the first quarter due to the still very good order situation. Due to the impending slowdown, however, Hermle stopped filling vacant positions as early as the second quarter of 2019 wherever possible.

In the course of the third quarter and at the beginning of the fourth quarter, the decline in demand again intensified significantly as expected. This additionally saw the first order cancellations. Since this trend is likely to continue until the end of the year, Hermle continues to anticipate a decline of around 20% in incoming orders for the whole of 2019. As repeatedly announced, this will be reflected in sales and earnings development in 2020. In the current year, however, Hermle continues to expect a stable to slightly positive business volume outcome and EBIT to be roughly at the previous year's level.

As a whole, Hermle is very well prepared for the slowdown in economic growth and the corresponding future decline in sales thanks to the flexible company concept, which has already been tried and tested several times in the past, for example in 2002/2003 and in 2008/2009. Thanks to the high level of capacity utilisation up to the end of the third quarter combined with a significant percentage of overtime hours worked, the company is able to adjust production capacities very flexibly with an unchanged workforce. As of the fourth quarter 2019, non-production days are planned as a reaction to the change in demand. To this end, the company will start to ensure that employees gradually take back their lieu time accrued in previous years.

Press contact: Redaktionsbüro tik GmbH, Gabriele Rechinger,
Telephone: +49 (0)911 95 97 870, Email: info@tik-online.de 

Image material: Maschinenfabrik Berthold Hermle AG, Udo Hipp,
T 07426 95 6238, E-mail: udo.hipp@hermle.de

 

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