During the first half of its 2013/14 financial year (closed on 31 October), the Infranor Group, a specialist in industrial automation, saw orders received increase to 22.4 million CHF, up by 11 per cent on the same period last year (20.2 million CHF). Sales rose by 3 per cent from 20.7 million CHF to 21.4 million CHF. Adjusting its structures in line with business volume meant that net profit after taxes has been balanced. The Group is continuing to forecast sales of 44.0 million CHF for the full financial year, which runs to 30 April 2014.


Targeted growth

Despite a generally rather uncertain outlook, Infranor has known how to play its game well by focusing on the field of applications for its products and systems. Thus at the end of the first half of the year, orders received rose by 11 per cent, up from 20.2 million CHF at 31 October 2012 to 22.4 million CHF twelve months later, while sales increased by 3 per cent over the same period, from 20.7 million CHF to 21.4 million CHF. As a result, orders on hand grew from 6.8 million CHF at 30 April 2013 to 7.4 million CHF. Personnel costs rose by 0.5 million CHF in response not only to the increase in production but also due to the targeting of innovative areas of application as a means of generating future profit streams. The Infranor Group balanced its accounts, whereas it had achieved a post-tax profit of 0.4 million CHF at the same stage a year earlier.  

Progress by divisions

Given the position occupied by Infranor in certain market segments, coupled with the acknowledged expertise of its engineers, it is possible to foresee growth for all of the Group's companies. Not only does growth continue to be particularly significant in China, but it also now appears to have reached the European entities. In the Infranor Division (70 per cent of total sales), the start of the financial year was particularly favourable to Mavilor Motors, the Spanish development and production company, as well as to Infranor's sales and engineering companies in northern Europe and China, which recorded an increase in orders received of more than 50 per cent year-on-year. Apart from Infranor United States and Spain, the other entities also recorded growth. After six months, sales had increased by 11 per cent from 13.4 million CHF to 14.9 million CHF. General expenses and depreciation and amortisation increased by 0.7 million CHF year-on-year to 7.5 million CHF, due in particular to the recruitment of production staff to meet demand, as well as sales employees and application engineers. As a result, the EBIT figure stood at 0.9 million CHF, representing 5.9 per cent of the Infranor Division's sales (1.0 million CHF or 7.7 per cent of the division's sales at 31 October 2012).

As the global leader in numerical controls for sheet-metal forming processes, the Cybelec Division (30 per cent of total sales) is taking advantage of the current level of weak growth in its market segment to consolidate its market share. For the last two years, the Cybelec Division has been developing a new range of high-end to entry-level products. These new products optimise in particular the division's hardware platforms and standardise its production and assembly methods. It has been gradually launching its new products onto the market since March and initial orders show that these have been very well received by customers both in China and Europe. During the first half of the 2013/14 financial year, sales shrank by 12 per cent from 7.3 million CHF to 6.5 million CHF, although orders received by the Chinese subsidiary grew by 14 per cent. Operating costs were reduced by 0.3 million CHF to 3.9 million CHF (down from 4.2 million CHF) following the restructuring of personnel costs. EBIT temporarily recorded a loss of 0.1 million CHF as against a gain of 0.1 million CHF this time last year.


Outlook

Infranor expects the global economic situation to improve further over the second half of the 2013/14 financial year, enabling it to promote its optimised automation solutions for specific sectors. The Group is maintaining its annual sales forecast of 44 million CHF.

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