Exyte concludes financial year 2018 with record results and expects further growth

• Record sales of € 3.5 billion (+48%)
• Rise in order intake to € 4.4 billion (+35%)
• Adj. EBIT at € 170 million (+57%) 
• Outlook for 2019: rising sales and sustained development of adj. EBIT

Exyte AG (“Exyte”), a global leader in the design, engineering and construction of high-tech facilities, continued on its profitable growth path and clearly achieved its objectives in the financial year 2018.

The company generated sales of € 3.5 billion in 2018, resulting in a growth of more than 48% compared to the previous year (2017: € 2.4 billion). Order intake at Exyte increased by 35% to € 4.4 billion in 2018 (2017: € 3.2 billion). Adjusted EBIT improved more than forecasted and rose to € 170 million in the past year (2017: € 108 million), which corresponds to an adjusted EBIT margin of 4.8%.

“We generated a record result in 2018 and will continue on our path for sustained profitable growth. This positive development is confirmation that our strategic realignment and focus on clearly defined target mar-kets and core regions is paying off, and that we are on the right track with our customer-oriented approach,” Dr. Wolfgang Büchele (CEO) said. “Exyte’s key growth driver remains our Advanced Technology Facilities (ATF) segment, in which we serve customers in the semiconductor industry. Meanwhile, we are also benefiting from the continued growth in demand for highly efficient manufacturing environments for semiconductor production. A key driver of our business is the volume development of produced wafers and chips, which has been growing steadily by 7% to 8% per year over the course of the past years.”

While the Advanced Technology Facilities segment (semiconductors specifically) remains Exyte’s strongest business segment, with total sales of € 2.8 billion, sales also developed well in the two other strategic business segments, Life Sciences and Chemicals (pharmaceuticals and biotechnology in particular) and Data Center.

Exyte was once again able to grow at a regional level, with a 59% year-on-year increase in sales in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region, which made up over half of the company’s total sales. At the same time, Exyte was also able to generate a substantial year-on-year increase in sales in Europe (EMEA) (+78%).

Significant increase in workforce

The total number of employees at the Exyte Group increased from 4,846 in 2017 to 5,561 in reporting year 2018, corresponding to a growth of 15%. The strongest growth was recorded in the APAC region. Overall, Exyte continues to aim to provide the highest quality of services to companies of the technologically most demanding industries around the world and is therefore focusing on specialists with engineering skills and technical expertise.

Exyte continues to benefit from key global trends

The Exyte Group designs and constructs high-tech production facilities and plants around the world. Exyte’s growth in all three strategic business segments is decisively driven by various key global trends on a sustained basis. As a result of digitalisation, in particular developments such as the Internet of Things (IoT) and Artificial Intelligence (AI), demand in the semiconductor industry continues to increase.

With regard to the market segments for semiconductors, food, consumer goods and consumer care, Exyte also benefits from other key trends, such as Industry 4.0. The growth in the world’s population is also posi-tively impacting the battery, pharmaceutical, biotechnology, food and nutrition markets. In addition, Exyte’s growth is made possible by the rise in general prosperity and regulatory initiatives in specific industries, such as the market for batteries for electromobility and renewable energies. Exyte’s semiconductor and batteries business also benefits from state funding of specific industries by various nations, such as the People’s Republic of China.

Outlook for 2019: Exyte expects strong demand

In light of the key global trends mentioned above, Exyte expects the positive development experienced in the previous year to continue. With its strategic “upside” program, the company will be focusing in the years ahead on actively developing its core markets. Sustained profitable growth will be supported by oper-ational excellence and the further development of digital solutions. Overall, Exyte expects the current financial year 2019 to generate more sales than the previous year, an order intake slightly below the record level of 2018 (due to a major order in the previous year) and a moderate rise in adjusted EBIT.

Exyte’s CEO, Dr. Wolfgang Büchele, had this to say on the goals for the 2019 financial year: “Overall, we believe we are well-positioned in our core business segments and target markets, which are marked by global growth trends. Our focus for 2019 is to further expand our strong market position in all of our core business segments.”

A detailed report is available at www.exyte.net.