In the third quarter of 2024, net sales decreased by 21 percent year-on-year and amounted to EUR 6.4 million. The positive development in demand that started at the end of the second quarter continued and order intake grew strongly during the quarter, especially in the semiconductor industry segment. However, this was not yet reflected in net sales, because the customer segment’s demand was sluggish in the first half of the year.
The recruitments that began in the summer have progressed as planned, which enables full utilization of the capacity. However, the training and orientation of the new personnel are still in progress, so production throughput will be slower as the demand has grown more strongly than expected. This also had a significant impact on the low net sales.
The third-quarter operating result fell into the red and amounted to EUR –1.2 million. The decline in operating result was influenced by low net sales, the emphasis of net sales on customer segments with lower margins and the increased production personnel costs.
The recovery in demand for Aspocomp’s products expected during 2024 began during the third quarter, and the company’s order book grew strongly. In particular, the demand of the Semiconductor Industry customer segment turned to strong growth compared to the previous quarter, and globally the market has continued to grow compared to the previous year. Demand is expected to remain strong and expand to all customers in the segment.
We reiterate the guidance that was published on August 29, 2024, that Aspocomp’s net sales for 2024 will be below the 2023 level, and its operating result for 2024 will be clearly below the 2023 level.
Aspocomp has been in a challenging situation since the fall of last year when demand dropped significantly, and the company’s business has been loss-making since the second half of last year. In the second quarter of this year, we focused strongly on improving sales. This, together with the revival of demand in the Semiconductor Industry segment, has raised the company’s order book to a significantly better level. The personnel lay-offs that had been ongoing since the beginning of the year ended in June and we started recruitment to increase capacity. These measures and the end of the annual holiday season have brought the number of production personnel back to a level that enables full utilization of capacity. In the third quarter, we have focused on training and orientation for new personnel. The increase in capacity and the improvement in production throughput are expected to be fully reflected in production volumes only in the last quarter of the year. For the rest of the year, the focus will be on increasing and stabilizing production volumes. This makes it possible to improve the company’s profitability and cash flow.
Rapidly increasing production volumes increases net working capital along with the increase in net sales. In addition to increasing the credit limit, measures have been agreed with both customers and suppliers to improve the company’s cash flow.
Espoo, October 23, 2024
Manu Skyttä