Driven by a high order backlog, the eastern Swiss generated sales of CHF 229.4 million from July to September, which is 2.3 percent more than in the previous year. Incoming orders climbed by as much as 17.8 percent to 298.7 million, according to a communiqué on Friday. Analysts had expected a much lower order intake.
The so-called “book-to-bill ratio” stood at 1.3 at the end of September. This means that for every franc turned in, new orders worth 1.3 francs came in. VAT now has an order backlog of CHF 284 million.
The driver of growth at VAT is and will remain the global semiconductor sector, the company’s largest end market. The market has recently continued to grow. And driven by the global shortage of semiconductor chips and technological advances, manufacturers continued to invest heavily in new production facilities.
The investments made by customers are at an “unprecedented level”, explained VAT. The demand for services is also at a record level. The company have also gained market share.
Only demand in the Display & Solar division remained subdued, according to VAT. The latest incoming orders would, however, suggest that the worst may have bottomed out here as well.
Developments in the pandemic, such as working from home and increased online trading, accelerated megatrends such as the Internet of Things, cloud computing and artificial intelligence, VAT writes. The outlook for the semiconductor market remained positive well into 2022.
Against this background, VAT expects sales in the order of CHF 885 to 895 million in 2021. The EBITDA margin will probably be above the half-year level of 33.9 percent and the net profit will be significantly higher than in 2020 (133.5 million).
For the last quarter of 2021, VAT is calculating with a turnover of 240 million to 250 million francs.