Neways records higher turnover and order intake in first quarter
Highlights
- Net turnover € 122.3 million in Q1, a year-on-year increase of 13.7%
- Persistent shortage of components and difficulties recruiting additional personnel result in slow-down in turnover growth and pressure on organisation
- Order intake up 15.6% (year-on-year) in Q1
- Higher activity levels driven primarily by demand in the industrial and semiconductor sectors
- Outlook 2018 unchanged: Neways expects higher net turnover and operating result in 2018 compared to 2017
CEO statement
Huub van der Vrande: “We made a strong start to the year, with substantial growth in turnover and a well-stocked order book. We can also be satisfied with the growth in productivity we realised despite the continued pressure on the organisation. As a result of this, costs lagged the increase in activity levels in relative terms, which translated into an improved operating result. This confirms the success of our proposition to OEMs and shows that the improvement programmes we introduced are now paying off.
Despite these positive developments, the persistent shortages in the market for technically skilled personnel and the shortages in the components market meant we were unable to make the most of our full potential. This underlines the importance of more effective, more efficient and smarter operations and therefore the maximization of deliveries from scarce resources. In concrete terms, this means we will have to focus even more on group-wide integration, for instance by making sure that our capacity utilisation is distributed across the entire group. We maintain our outlook for the full year 2018. Neways is in an excellent position to realise a higher net turnover and higher operating result compared to 2017.”