• Sales double in the USA, order intake increases by over 150 percent
• More than 50 percent increase in order intake in EMEA
• Business Area Technology & Services’ sales grow by almost 25 percent
• Further improvement in profitability
• Exyte CEO Dr. Wolfgang Büchele: "Our follow-the-client strategy is paying off. We benefit in Europe and the USA from extensive investments in high-tech facilities."
• Both regions will continue to be significant drivers of Exyte's business development in the current year and beyond

Fiscal Year 2023: Regionally diverging development

Last year, Exyte achieved sales of €7.1 billion. Compared to the record sales in 2022, sales decreased by 4.7%. The reason for the slight decrease in sales is the completion of mega-projects, especially in Asia. New mega projects in EMEA and the USA are still in the ramp-up phase. The sales from these projects will only start to increase in future quarters. An additional factor is the delayed investment plans of clients. Companies, especially in the semiconductor sector, have postponed some projects. Reasons include increased financing costs and delays in government subsidies in some regions. These circumstances also impacted the order intake in 2023, which was approximately €7.2 billion.

Exyte was awarded with several key projects all over the world in all three business segments in 2023. “This shows that Exyte's strong emphasis on megatrend-driven industries and our customer-centric strategy places us in a favourable position to maintain our growth ambitions. We are well positioned in growth markets globally,” Büchele continues.

Positive development of the financial result

Despite the stagnation in sales development, Exyte continued to improve its profitability with an adjusted EBITDA of €484 million (2022: €460 million) and an adjusted EBIT of €435 million (2022: €416 million). The adjusted EBITDA margin was 6.9% (2022: 6.2%), while the adjusted EBIT margin reached 6.2% (2022: 5.6%).

“Regardless of the temporarily adverse sales development, Exyte’s short-, medium-, and long-term perspectives remain positive. Whether it’s semiconductors, battery cells, biotechnology and pharmaceuticals, or data centers, customers in our target industries continue to invest in expanding their capacities”, says Büchele.

Financial year 2024: Increase in sales expected

For 2024 Exyte sales are expected to increase again, driven by an increased order intake. All GBUs will contribute to this growth. Büchele says: “Our leading market position and our high order backlog of 6.7 billion euros at the end of 2023 enable us to resume our growth trajectory. We remain committed to our goal of achieving ten billion euros in sales by latest 2027 as part of our ‘Pathway to Ten’. The profitability development will be impacted by the regional shift in business.” Following the sales development, Exyte anticipates an absolute increase in adjusted EBIT for 2024, with a slightly declining adjusted EBIT margin compared to the fiscal year 2023.

Growth Markets: Regional shift towards Europe and the USA

Exyte sees a regional shift in its business development. The share of Asia is declining, while order intake and sales are increasing significantly in Europe and the USA. Especially clients of the Advanced Technology Facilities business segment benefit from subsidies for the semiconductor and battery cell industries in Western countries. While semiconductor factories have been built mostly in Asia in recent years, many large-scale projects are currently being developed or are already being implemented in the USA and Europe. “As a result, the regional distribution of sales will change in the coming years. In both Europe and the USA, we are expanding our organization to execute our clients’ planned mega-projects,” says Exyte board member Mark Garvey.

Expansion of Technology & Services: Rising demand for products and services

Exyte is also investing in expanding its production capacities in Europe and the USA to capitalize on the investment boom in the semiconductor industry. Among others, sites for offsite manufacturing have been established in Czech Republic and the USA. In Boise, Idaho, Exyte is expanding the production capacities of several product lines in the Business Area Technology & Services. Büchele explains: “We are establishing a strategic network of production and offsite manufacturing sites across Europe and the USA to increase the speed of project implementation for our clients."

In the Czech Republic, Exyte increased its production capacities by expanding two existing locations and opening a third one. The products produced there are primarily used in the construction of semiconductor facilities in Europe.

With strategic acquisitions, Exyte advances its strategy of vertical integration. This foresees strengthening the Technology & Services business area in the area of mission-critical equipment and installation services. Last year Exyte acquired Intega GmbH, a specialist in high-purity media supply systems. Exyte also recently completed the acquisition of CollabraTech Solutions, a US specialist in the design and production of distribution systems and contract manufacturing services.

Regional expansion and business opportunities in Southeast Asia

Despite the promising prospects in the USA and Europe, Exyte will continue to seize opportunities in Asia, especially in the biopharma and life sciences as well as data center sectors. In all of its three business segments, the company has recently successfully executed projects for international blue-chip customers, including chip factories for American, Asian, and German semiconductor manufacturers.

Exyte intends to leverage its existing expertise in other markets as well. To this end, Exyte has entered into a strategic collaboration agreement with the Japanese company JGC Corporation. Both companies will explore the joint business development and execution of EPC projects, collaboratively expanding the business fields of high-tech facility projects in Southeast Asian emerging countries, namely Indonesia, Philippines, Vietnam, and Thailand.

Global workforce: Continued need for technical experts

To enable the expected growth, Exyte continues to onboard a high number of new employees, especially engineers, construction managers and project managers. As of December 31, 2023, Exyte employed 9,740 employees (Full Time Equivalent) worldwide. The global workforce has increased by 9% compared to the previous year. By 2027, Exyte expects to have 15,000 employees.

Fiscal year 2023: Business performance across regions

In AMER the order intake rose by more than 150% to €2.4 billion (2022: €961 million). Sales almost doubled and reached €1.1 billion (2022: €560 million).

The APAC region’s sales decreased by around 24% to €3.2 billion year-on-year (2022: €4.2 billion), whereas the order intake reached €1.2 billion (2022: €4.1 billion).

With €2.1 billion (2022: €2.1 billion) EMEA contributed approximately 28% of total sales in 2023. Order intake amounted to €2.8 billion (2022: €1.8 billion), an increase of around 53%.

Fiscal year 2023: Business performance across Global Business Units

Advanced Technology Facilities: Driver of digitalization and electromobility

With sales of €6.0 billion (2022: €6.4 billion), the business segment Advanced Technology Facilities contributed 85% of total group sales. Exyte anticipates a consistent increase of semiconductor and battery cell manufacturing due to the continuous rise in demand for these products. Major investments in both industries are also driven by financial support from governments, e.g., the European Chips Act and the US CHIPS and Science Act as well as the Inflation Reduction Act.

In Europe, Exyte meanwhile engages in the construction of several gigafabs for battery cell production. The clients are vehicle manufacturers, battery manufacturers and energy companies. Exyte board member and CEO of Exyte’s business segment Advanced Technology Facility Garvey says: “With our expertise in this growth market, we are making a significant contribution to the climate-friendly mobility of tomorrow.”

Biopharma & Life Sciences: Contributing to the fight against common diseases

Sales of Biopharma & Life Sciences reached €579 million in 2023 (2022: €610 million). The order intake grew by 12% to €650 million (2022: €581 million). The segment, accounting for 8.2% of Exyte’s total sales in 2023, is benefitting from major investments of global pharmaceutical companies, especially in Asia and Europe.

Exyte, for example, is working for leading providers of novel diabetes medications that can also be used to treat other diseases. Thus, the company is making a significant contribution towards fighting widespread diseases of diabetes and obesity. In the US, Exyte has been awarded a renovation project by a leading biotechnology company. Moreover, Exyte successfully completed a mRNA vaccine fast-track production facility in Asia. It took only 13 months from the design phase to the operational qualification and handover.

Data Centers: Enabler of artificial intelligence

The Data Centers business segment benefits from the increasing volume of data, driven, for example, by applications of artificial intelligence. Sales in the Data Centers segment reached €414 million, an increase of 44% (2022: €288 million), while the order intake rose by 13% to €469 million (2022: €415 million). In 2023, the Data Centers business was driven by projects for blue-chip software and technology companies in Europe and South-East Asia.

To accelerate the growth of the company's Data Centers business segment and to meet 2027 sales targets, Exyte has decided to also enter the US data center market. “The data center industry in the US is experiencing rapid growth, with increasing demand for reliable and scalable infrastructure to support digital transformation. Exyte can offer its clients innovative solutions for sustainable and high-performance data centers,” Büchele explains.

Technology & Services: Rising demand for products and services

Technology & Services consists of entities that provide cleanroom technology, installation services, and critical equipment for subsystems to its clients as well as off-site manufacturing (OSM). In 2023 sales increased to €963 million (2022: €775 million), and the order intake reached €967 million (2022: €1.1 billion).