SÜSS MicroTec: US-Tochter sorgt für operativen Verlust

According to provisional figures, SUSS MicroTec's 2019 sales of EUR 215 million are at the upper end of the Group's forecast. The fourth quarter had a turnover of 84 million euros. "In the significantly improved market environment, orders of EUR 127 million were booked in the second half of the year and were thus significantly above the communicated expectations of significantly more than EUR 95 million," reports SUSS MicroTec on the order situation. The fourth quarter of 2019 accounted for a total of EUR 61.5 million.

One-time write-downs of the group on the inventories of the US subsidiary SMT Photonic Systems Inc., which amount to around 13.1 million euros, have a negative impact on earnings. According to SUSS MicroTec, the background is a low investment requirement for potential customers for the scanner and laser tool product group, which is expected from today's perspective. The one-time effect before interest and taxes leads to a loss of 11.5 million euros, without the special effect the Garching company could have achieved an operating profit of 1.6 million euros.

"In 2020, further burdens in the upper single-digit million euro range due to devaluations and closure costs are to be expected," announces SUSS MicroTec, but does not provide any more concrete figures for the outlook.