News: Suppliers
13 April 2022
Riber’s revenue up 3% in 2021, driven by diversification of product mix
For full-year 2021, Riber S.A. of Bezons, France – which manufactures molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) systems as well as evaporation sources and effusion cells – has reported revenue of €31.2m, up 3% on 2020’s €30.2m.
MBE system sales were €17.4m, down 4% on 2020’s €18.2m (with eight machines delivered, versus 10 in 2020). However, this followed the rejection by the French authorities of export licenses worth €9m in 2021.
Services & Accessories revenue maintained its strong growth, rising by 15% from €12m to a record €13.8m (44.2% of total revenue).
Due to a favorable change in the product mix and an increase in the value of the systems sold, gross margin has risen from 30.1% to 35.4%.
Operating expenditure rose from €8.4m in 2020 to €9.8m in 2021, due to R&D investment being increased by 80% to (€3.8m (12% of revenue). Sales & marketing costs were cut by 4% and administrative costs by 6%.
Operating income has grown from €0.7m to a slightly better-than-targeted €1.3m (rising from 2.3% to 4.1% of revenue). Likewise, net income rose from just €0.3m to €1.5m (from 0.9% to 4.7% of revenue). However, this included €0.4m of financial income and expenses, linked primarily to the revaluation in euros of receivables denominated in US dollars.
During 2021, the cash position fell by €2.2m from €8m to €5.8m, reflecting strong growth in cash flow from operations, an increase in working capital requirements, and the ramping up of investments.
Net debt was €2.4m at the end of 2021. During 2021, shareholders’ equity rose by €0.8m to €19.8m, linked to earnings for the year and the distribution of amounts drawn against the issue premium for 2020 to shareholders.
The order book has grown by just 3% during 2021, from €14.4m to €14.8m. Specifically, following the major deliveries at the end of 2021, orders for Services & Accessories fell by 21% from €8.7m at the end of 2000, but remained at a good level of €6.9m end-2021. Orders for MBE Systems grew by 39% from €5.7m to €7.9m (three machines, including one production system). However, this excludes additional orders for six systems (five research and one production) announced during first-quarter 2022, worth a total of about €9m.
Outlook for 2022
Compared with 2021, Riber is forecasting growth in both revenue and profitability for 2022. Also, due to a strong pipeline of prospects, the firm expects to continue to record new orders during second-quarter 2022.
Riber says that, over the longer term, in an environment supporting the emergence of a European semiconductor industry, it is moving forward with a project for profitable growth built around its technical and industrial know-how, as well as its capacity for innovation. Driven by new information technologies, the firm is rolling out a strategy focused on further strengthening its leading position in MBE, achieving regular growth in its service activities, and maintaining a robust level of R&D investment to expand its portfolio of technologies and applications.
Distribution of amounts drawn against ‘issue premium’ account
At the general meeting of shareholders on 21 June, Riber’s executive board will submit a proposal to approve a cash payout based on reimbursing part of the issue premium for €0.05 per share (to be released for payment on 4 July).
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