Pfeiffer Vacuum has announced its results for the first half of 2006. All sales and profitability numbers advanced sharply year on year. Traded on the New York Stock Exchange for the past ten years, the company will celebrate this anniversary in New York by ringing The Closing Bell on August 10, 2006.
The company reported that its sales growth eased somewhat in the second quarter of the year, following an extremely strong first quarter. Year to date, sales are up 10.5 percent over the same period the year before. The company says that this means it has once again grown faster than the market. Regionally, growth in the second quarter of 2006 came primarily from the United States (up 16 percent) and from Asia and the rest of the world (up 19 percent over the same quarter the year before). Sales in Germany declined by around 10 percent, while stagnating in the other countries of Europe.
Once again, sales were driven mainly by pumps and components for the analytical industry in the United States and Japan, with sales to manufacturers of analytical equipment rising by 25 percent from € 17.8 million in the 1st half of 2005 to € 22.3 million during the period under review. Already at a high level, sales in the heterogeneous industrial applications market segment again rose moderately, from € 18.6 to € 19.7 million, with both Roots pumps for metallurgical applications as well as pumping stations for customers in Eastern Europe contributing to this growth. Sales in the research and development market segment advanced sharply by 21 percent from € 14.7 to € 17.8 million, with orders coming from major research institutes in Germany, France and Switzerland, for example.
In the market segment of coating, sales declined from € 14.0 to € 12.8 million. However various orders are still to be shipped during the second half of the year here, especially to customers in the fields of solar technology and architectural glass coating. The Semiconductor segment grew by 11 percent from € 9.3 to € 10.3 million.
During the first half of 2006, sales of high-margin turbopumps advanced by 21 percent, from € 31.5 to € 38.2 million. A favorable product mix, coupled with further manufacturing cost management efforts, produced an 18-percent rise in gross profit as well as an outstanding gross margin of 49.7 percent. EBIT margin reached a new record high of 24.2 percent (H1 / 2005: 21.9 percent).
During the second quarter of 2006, new orders slowed somewhat from their record-setting level in Q1. Chief Executive Officer Wolfgang Dondorf comments: "It is still not yet possible to see whether this trend is an indication of a general economic slowdown. We are therefore reiterating our conservative forecast for sales growth of from 6 to 8 percent. We will do everything in our power to keep our outstanding margins high. However higher energy and raw materials costs are largely beyond our control. We are therefore anticipating an EBIT margin of at least 23 percent for the full fiscal year.
"We have distributed nearly € 12 million, ie around one-half of our 2005 earnings, to our shareholders in the form of a dividend. During the second quarter, we began buying back treasury stock. At the close of the second quarter of 2006, our liquid assets continue to total more than € 60 million. Consequently, we are looking for opportunities to broaden our product portfolio in the field of vacuum pumps and components."
This year marks the tenth anniversary of the company's initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange. On July 16, 1996, the issue price of its shares was € 6.25. Over the course of the past ten years, their trading price has risen roughly eight-fold. Wolfgang Dondorf says: "This was the result of hard work on the part of all of our people throughout the world, who have steadily increased the value of our company. We are all very proud of our company's success story. Our American investors, in particular, appreciate the fact that, in spite of limited trading volume in New York, we subject ourselves to the stricter controls of the SEC. On August 10, 2006, we will have the honor of ringing The Closing BellSM on the NYSE!"
