News

15 October 2010

 

Riber’s revenue bounces back by 11% in Q3/2010

Riber S.A. of Bezons, France, which manufactures molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) systems as well as evaporation sources and effusion cells, has reported revenue for third-quarter 2010 of €3.2m, down 11% on €3.6m a year ago but more than doubling from last quarter’s low of €1.5m and bouncing back above Q1/2010’s €2.9m).

Nevertheless, total revenue for Q1–Q3/2010 of €7.6m in still down 20% on €9.5m year-on-year. In particular, MBE system sales of €2.8m are down 46% from €5.2m (although a €2.5m production system has been produced but will only be delivered in December for contractual reasons). Revenue from evaporation sources and effusion cells of €0.6m are down 61% on €1.7m (although the delivery schedule is concentrated over last-quarter 2010). However, from services and accessories business is on track for strong growth, with revenue rising 60% from €2.6m to €4.2m.

At the end of September, Riber’s order book was up 155% on just €7.5m a year ago to €19.1m. This has been generated by 10 MBE systems — two production systems and eight research systems (including three to be delivered in 2011) — giving system orders up 158% from just €4.8m a year ago to €12.4m. This also includes major effusion cell orders for the strongly growing OLED (organic LED) and copper indium gallium (di)selenide (CIGS) thin-film photovoltaic panels sectors, leading to cell and source orders rising 4.7-fold from €0.7m to €4m. Services and accessories orders are up 35% from €2m to €2.7m.

Riber concludes that its strong growth in orders backs up its business model, based on:

• capitalizing on the installed base and growing sales of epitaxy equipment, spare parts and accessories, as well as corresponding services;

• launching a range of high-value-added equipment and services for high-growth application fields (thin-film solar panels, OLED lighting and flat-screen displays etc).

In view of the delivery schedule for the end of the year, Riber expects revenue of more than €19m for full-year 2010, paving the way for further improvement in profitability. Final full-year revenue will be reported on 13 January 2011.

See related items:

Riber expects strong H2/2010 to compensate for first half

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