Linz. 09.11.2018. Repeating previous performances, S&T AG (www.snt.at) substantially increased its revenues and profitability in the third quarter of 2018 and thus also in the first nine months of the financial year, as compared to the same periods in 2017. Revenues rose in the first nine months of 2018 by some 12%, going from EUR 587.3 million in 2017 to EUR 660.0 million in 2018 and in the third quarter of 2018 by some 15%, increasing from EUR 205.9 million in 2017 to EUR 237.3 million.
The growth in revenues and the implementation of further optimization measures caused the nine months’ EBITDA to rise from EUR 43.0 million in 2017 to EUR 57.2 million. Driver of the increase remains the “IoT Solutions” segment with its high-margin products. This segment’s nine months’ EBITDA went from EUR 21.0 million in 2017 to EUR 34.5 million (13.5% of revenues) in 2018. Net income increased by more than 77% during the first nine months of 2018, rising from the first three quarters of 2017’s EUR 15.4 million to EUR 27.3 million. Also developing positively were once more the earnings per share, which amounted to 40 cents for the first nine months of 2018 (PY: 24 cents).
As of the end of the third quarter of 2018, S&T AG’s assets and liquidity remain strong. Liquid funds came, as of September 30, 2018 – subsequent to a bond repayment, payment of dividends and the making of acquisitions – to EUR 97.0 million (December 31, 2017: EUR 216.9 million). The equity ratio rose as of September 30, 2018 to 45.7% (December 31, 2017: 41.2%).
The sustaining profitable growth in the third quarter 2018 and the strong and large order backlog, which came to some EUR 592 million as of the end of the third quarter of 2018 (December 31, 2017: EUR 474 million), are causing the Executive Board of S&T AG to increase its forecast for EBITDA for financial year 2018 from at least EUR 80 million to at least EUR 88 million.
Hannes Niederhauser, CEO of S&T AG sums up the company’s results: “We worked hard over the last four years to implement our Agenda 2018 and it paid off. We increased our revenues from EUR 385 million in 2014 to nearly EUR one billion in this year. For the financial year 2018 we are now going for the final spurt in the fourth quarter. We already know – and this is very gratifying – that we will beat the forecast that we had made for EBITDA in 2018 of at least EUR 80 million. We will in fact achieve an EBITDA of at least EUR 88 million. Now we are undertaking the measures comprising our Agenda 2023, and these are designed to double our revenue by 2023. EBITDA is set to outperform this and to rise by 2023 to more than EUR 200 million. S&T’s story of growth is by no means over. What we have achieved is only its first stage.”