AIXTRON SE Manz makes high-tech production systems for lithium-ion batteries for consumer electronics and electric cars, for smartphone and computer touch screens, and for solar modules.
Chief Financial Officer Martin Hipp said it was too early to say whether Manz had been profitable in 2014, after its solar division - suffering from a worldwide glut of solar equipment and collapse in investments - pushed it to a net loss in 2013.
"But for sales, I see us rather at the upper end of our target range of 280 to 300 million euros (209 to 224 million pounds), he told the Boersen-Zeitung markets daily in an interview published on Saturday.
Hipp said Manz would likely have further large writedowns in 2015 and 2016 at its solar business, which could remain loss-making this year unless investments in the sector picked up.
"Global production and capacity are finally in balance," he said. "The first customers are already making small orders but contracts for bigger capacity expansions are still taking time."
At its battery division, Hipp said there was a chance the business could grow to annual revenues of 100 million euros or more from 9 million in 2013, thanks to the takeover of Italy's Kemet last year.
"Whether we will achieve this in 2015 already is still unclear. But with order backlog of 40 million euros we are very well placed," he said.
He said demand for battery equipment was largely coming from the consumer-electronics industry, with the electric car market still small, and German carmaker unenthusiastic.
Hipp said he saw Manz's display division, its biggest by sales, growing at around 10 percent a year on average in a mature market.
The industry is waiting for a breakthrough in OLED display technology - screens based on organic materials that boast sharper images, thinner depth and lower energy consumption, which are still hard to produce in large sizes.
Manz is working with German chip equipment maker Aixtron on machinery to produce such screens.
"OLED has very big potential for the future but I don't see any breakthrough into mass production in the next two years," Hipp said.
($1 = 0.8923 euros)
(Reporting by Georgina Prodhan; Editing by Stephen Powell)
