Aspocomp’s result turned ugly into a loss – Order backlog as a bright spot

Contract manufacturer of printed circuit boards Aspocomp released its third quarter results on Wednesday.

Aspocomp’s turnover fell to 6.4 million euros in July–September from 8.1 million euros in the comparison period last year. The only analysis house that follows the company Inderes predicts a turnover of 7.6 million euros.

Profitability decreased from the comparison period and the result was still in the red. The company’s operating loss in the third quarter was 1.2 million euros, while in the comparison period the operating loss was 0.7 million euros. Inderes anticipates a loss operating income of EUR 0.5 million.

According to the company, the decline in the operating result was influenced by low turnover, the focus of turnover on lower-margin customer segments and the increased personnel costs of production.

Earnings per share were -0.20 euros, after it was -0.11 euros in the comparison period. Inderes anticipates earnings per share of -0.10 euros.

In the third quarter, the company collected orders worth 14.1 million euros, while the order pot for the comparison period was 7.1 million euros.

“The positive development in demand that started at the end of the second quarter continued and orders grew strongly, especially in the semiconductor industry customer segment. However, this was not yet reflected in the turnover, because the customer segment’s demand was sluggish in the first half of the year”, the company’s CEO Manu Skytt commented in the announcement.

According to Skyttä, for the rest of the year, the focus will be on increasing production volumes and stabilizing production flow. According to the company, this makes it possible to improve business profitability and cash flow.

Instructions unchanged

In connection with the results announcement, Aspocomp repeated the previous guidance for the end of 2024. The company issued a negative earnings warning at the end of August.

The company estimates that the net sales in 2024 will remain at the 2023 level and the operating result will clearly remain at the 2023 level. In 2023, turnover was 32.3 million euros and the operating profit was 1.7 million euros in loss.

“The recovery in demand for Aspocomp’s products started during the third quarter. Demand in the semiconductor industry customer segment in particular grew strongly in the third quarter, and demand is expected to remain strong.”