In the first six months of the 2015/2016 financial year, the Hönle Group's sales revenues of TEur 44,811 were slightly up from the previous year's figure of TEur 44,207. The operating result (EBIT) fell from TEur 6,013 in the previous year to TEur 5,346 in the current financial year. In this context it should be noted, however, that the Hönle Group generated special income of TEur 313 in the previous year from the sale of brand rights concerning adhesives in the consumer goods segment. In addition, the proportion of sales generated by the Equipment and Systems segment was significantly higher than in the previous year, which resulted in a rise in the cost of materials ratio. The pre-tax result (EBT) decreased by 10.5 % to TEur 5,156 and the consolidated result saw a 17.6 % decline to TEur 3,561. This corresponds to earnings per share of Eur 0.64 (PY: Eur 0.76).
Outlook
DRUPA, the world's largest trade fair for print media, will soon be opening its doors for visitors. The trade fair, which is only held once every four years, is expected to impact positively on Hönle Group's business development. In particular, incoming orders in the Equipment and Systems segment are expected to increase in the next quarters. Moreover, promising projects with new customers in the digital printing segment indicate positive sales development in this segment.
At Raesch Quarz (Germany) GmbH, the measures taken to achieve technical optimisation of the melting furnaces were successfully completed. Currently, all quartz glass melting furnaces are running efficiently and produce high-quality products with low reject rates. We therefore expect rising sales revenues at Raesch Quarz (Germany) GmbH and assume that the company will make contribute positively to earnings in the second half of the year.
Weaker demand in the smartphones segment led to lower sales revenues and earnings in the Adhesives segment in year-on-year terms. While we expect sales revenues to increase in the second half of the year due to model changes in the smartphones segment, overall, sales and earnings in the Adhesives segment will probably be lower than in the previous year.
Given unchanged economic conditions and sustained stable production processes at Raesch Quarz (Germany) GmbH, we expect the Hönle Group's sales revenues and operating result in financial year 2015/2016 to be roughly on par with the previous year's figures.
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