Technology company Bittium Net sales and profits increased last October to October and December 2023.
The company’s net sales increased to EUR 33.2 million from EUR 25.7 million. The operating profit increased to EUR 6.0 million from EUR 1.0 million, with operating profit from net sales to 18.0 % from 3.9 %.
Bittium had instructed net sales of EUR 85-95 million this year and EUR 7.0-5 million. In January -September, net sales were EUR 52.0 million and operating profit of EUR 2.6 million, leaving the last quarter much to work.
The company does not have extensive analyst monitoring. Bank OP Waiting for a turnover of EUR 33.4 million and operating income of EUR 6.0 million. Analysis house Inderes estimates that net sales will hit EUR 33.1 million and the result to EUR 6.3 million.
The earnings per share rose to EUR 0.16 from a loss of EUR 0.07 in the comparison period. Inderes expected EUR 0.17.
The Bittium Board proposes that last year’s earnings a dividend per share per share be distributed. A dividend of EUR 0.03 and an additional dividend of EUR 0.03 were distributed for the result of 2023. OP expected EUR 0.11 and Inderes for a dividend of EUR 0.10.
CEO changes
For the whole year, Bittium generated a turnover of EUR 85.2 million, of which the operating profit was EUR 8.6 million, or 10.1 %. Bittium will instruct the turnover of EUR 95-105 million in 2025 and operate to EUR 10-13 million.
Prior to the publication of the interim report, OP estimates that Bittium will make a turnover of EUR 100.0 million and Inderes EUR 97.2 million this year. The Bank’s earnings forecast was EUR 13.5 million and the analysis house was EUR 12.2 million.
Bittium is a technology company that provides equipment for health care and defense. In addition, the company provides product development services.
The company also said this morning that the CEO Johan Westermarck has resigned for his duties. The Board of Directors has appointed new CEO Petri Toljamon 1 April.
“When I came to Bittium, my goal was to turn Bittium on a profitable growth path. That turn is now made and the company’s future looks bright, ”Westermarck comments in the release.
Growth of defense
“The last quarter of the year was typically the strongest quarter of Bittium. Throughout the year, net sales increased by 13.2 per cent from the previous year. Growth was born due to increased demand and increased product deliveries in the Defense & Security business segment, ”CEO Johan Westermarck Comment in the bulletin.
Even the analysts were guessed that Bittium’s growth would start from this business area ..
Defment -focused segment’s net sales in the last quarter of the year increased by 47.3 per cent from the previous year and was EUR 23.7 million. The operating profit was EUR 6.5 million, or 27.5 % of net sales.
On an annual basis, the segment offered an increase of over 40 %. Profitability was 16.7 %. According to Westermarck, the growth was influenced by the general increase in demand in defense and increased supply. At the end of December, the order book was EUR 34.5 million, compared with EUR 17.5 million at the end of December.
“The cooperation with the Defense Forces was strengthened and we signed a partnership agreement for 2025-2036. The aim of the agreement is that the partnership becomes an integral part of overall defense and to create mechanisms for joint planning of normal and exceptional circumstances, ”says Westermarck.
“The agreement covers the tactical communication systems and related products used by the Defense Forces, as well as their maintenance and further development. We are very proud of this trust. ”
The Bittium Tough SDR radios for the Defense Forces began towards the end of the year when the Defense Forces ordered radios for about EUR 25.6 million. The order will be linked to the additional acquisition of the procurement contract in 2018.
According to the CEO, the strategy is growing in the international defense market has progressed well over the past year.
“Tactical communication system products were delivered to our customers to Croatia, Estonia and Austria, and cooperation with our new global defense market partners went well.”
Loss of healthcare
The turnover of health care segment increased by 2.3 per cent in the last quarter of last year from the previous year and the business loss was EUR 0.6 million. For the whole year, net sales fell by 12.6 per cent to EUR 19.3 million. The loss was EUR 0.9 million.
“The decline in net sales was influenced by the slow progress of new products and product variants, which has contributed to slowing down sales,” Westermarck comments.
“The operating profit was reduced by a total of approximately EUR 0.7 million in additional expenses, resulting from strengthening the regulatory skills of medical devices and using external experts.”
The order portfolio improved to EUR 6.1 million from EUR 5.5 million.
Westermarck says that a significant part of the sale of ECG devices for the measurement of a heart film was accumulated to the US customer Boston Scientific Cardiac Diagnosticsille from the products sold.
“Equipment has also been sold to customers in Europe, Asia and Australia. For Respiro for diagnosis of sleep apnea, we have received separate additional additional approval for certain European countries in addition to EU MDR approval and are now focusing on strategy to increase sales in Europe. ”
The company has also stated that it will launch an EMG device for measuring electronic activity in the muscles. According to Westermarck, the company will continue to map the market and find potential partners.
“The EMG measurement designed for remote diagnostics has been in the company’s product portfolio before, and the product version now introduced is currently used by our customer to identify Parkinson’s disease.”
“The market situation is still challenging”
On the product development side, net sales also fell in the last quarter of the year: 5.4 percent to EUR 4.1 million and the result was EUR 0.7 million. For the whole year, net sales fell by 15.6 per cent to EUR 14.3 million and the result was EUR 1.2 million.
“The decline in net sales was influenced by the challenging situation in the market, especially on the manufacturing industry and the number of product development projects less than the comparison period. The cost pressures of the operating environment were also reflected in the order backlog, which weakened slightly from the previous year, ”Westermarck comments.
“The cooperation with our long-time key customers continued to be good and despite the challenging market situation, we managed to overcome new stores from the Telecom and manufacturing industry markets.”
Westermarck says that the number of product development projects was less, so some employees have worked on the DEFENSE & Security business segment client projects.
“The market situation in product development services is still challenging and we do not expect demand for changes, at least during the first half of the year. In the product development service business, visibility is extremely short and fluctuations in the market situation can cause significant changes in a quick schedule. ”