Good financial year for Infranor

August 19, 2008 | by Infranor Inter

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August 19, 2008, The Infranor Group, which specialises in industrial automation, significantly outstripped last year's results in the 2007/08 financial year (ending April 30, 2008). The company's sales were 75.6 million CHF, 6.0 percent more than the previous year (71.3 million CHF), and net profit increased by 26.7 percent to 2.8 million CHF (2.2 million CHF). Because the market trend is difficult to predict in the current financial year, Infranor is anticipating sales levels in the same range as those of the previous financial year and, unless something unexpected occurs, a slightly better net profit than last year.


Significant improvement compared to the previous year Group sales increased by 6.0 percent to 75.6 million CHF (previous year: 71.3 million CHF). The gross margin was improved from 56.2 to 56.8 percent in spite of considerable pressure to reduce prices, mainly because of cost reductions by Cybelec that, in conjunction with the increase in sales, led to an increase of 2.8 million CHF. As a result of salary adjustments and strategic and sales-related personnel additions, group costs increased by 1.6 million CHF or 4.8 percent. EBIT increased by 19.3 percent to 5.5 million CHF (4.5 million CHF), which represents an EBIT margin of 7.1 percent (6.3 percent). Net profit was increased by 26.7 percent to 2.8 million CHF (2.2 million CHF), representing a return on sales of 3.7 percent or a return on equity of 25.6 percent.

New segment reporting structure In the report for the 2007/08 financial year, Infranor for the first time split up its reporting into the two Infranor and Cybelec divisions, which represent the group's strategic direction rather than the previous alignment by the geographical source of sales. This restructuring will provide more focus on the different activities, capabilities and markets of the two divisions.

Different developments for each division The two divisions differed with regard to sales and income. The significantly larger Infranor Division increased its sales only slightly compared to the previous year with 47.7 million CHF (47.1 million CHF). Germany and England were particularly successful, as were the Infranor Electronics and Mavilor Motors product companies. The Infranor Division's EBIT remained almost at the same level as the previous year at 3.2 million CHF (3.3 million CHF). As a result of the significant increase in the cost of raw materials and extreme pressure to reduce prices, the EBIT margin decreased slightly to 6.7 percent (7.1 percent). On the other hand, the Cybelec Division made extremely good progress: sales increased by 14.9 percent to 27.8 million CHF (24.2 million CHF) and EBIT increased significantly to 3.2 million CHF (2.1 million CHF). Cybelec's EBIT margin increased to 11.6 percent (8.6 percent).

Higher dividend to be proposed Because of these positive results, the Board of Directors of Infranor Inter AG will propose to the Annual Shareholders' Meeting on September 11, 2008, payment of a dividend of 2.00 CHF per share, which represents an increase of one third compared to the previous year (1.50 CHF per share).

Outlook The next twelve months are difficult to assess because there is a considerable amount of uncertainty. Due to the known economic fluctuations, incoming orders and outstanding orders in both divisions dropped off in mid-2008. The majority of the Infranor Group's customers are reserved in their predictions. As a whole, for this financial year Infranor is anticipating sales levels in the same range as those of the previous financial year and, unless something unexpected occurs, a slightly better net profit than last year.

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Conclusion of this article: « Good financial year for Infranor »

Source: Infranor Inter, Press release