DGAP-News: Basler AG: Preliminary business figures for 2019 - Basler closes the financial year 2019 along its planning

Corporate News
Preliminary business figures / annual balance sheet

Preliminary business figures for 2019: Basler closes the financial year 2019 along its planning

- Sales Euro 162.0 million (2018: Euro 150.0 million, +8 %)

- Incoming orders Euro 166.5 million (2018: Euro 154.0 million, +8 %)

- EBITDA Euro 30.0 million (2018: Euro 36.0 million, -17 %)

- Earnings before taxes Euro 16.9 million (2018: Euro 24.5 million, -31 %)

- Free cash flow (including M&A) Euro -9.7 million (2018: Euro 1.3 million)

Ahrensburg, February 25, 2020 - BASLER AG, the leading global manufacturer of industrial cameras, is releasing preliminary figures for fiscal year 2019 today.

In a declining market environment, Basler AG increased its group's sales 2019 to Euro 162.0 million (previous year: Euro 150.0 million). Also incoming orders of Euro 166.5 million were above the previous year's value of Euro 154.0 million. The increase is mainly due to the acquisition of Silicon Software GmbH and the takeover of the Chinese distribution business of MVLZ Sanbao Xingye. In contrast, the VDMA (Verband Deutscher Maschinen- und Anlagenbau, German Engineering Federation) reported a sales decrease of 10 % for the German manufacturers of image processing components for the elapsed fiscal year 2019. According to VDMA, incoming orders in the industry decreased by 7 % in the same period of time.

The earnings before taxes decreased to Euro 16.9 million (previous year: Euro 24.5 million), particularly due to planned strategic investments in the building up of personnel. The pre-tax margin summed up to 10.4 % (previous year: 16.3 %). With these results, Basler achieves the forecast communicated to the capital market according to which sales will be between Euro 160 million and Euro 164 million at a rate of return of 8 % to 10 % for 2019.

The free cash flow calculated as sum of the cash flows from operations and cash flow for investments reached a value of Euro -9.7 million (previous year: Euro 1.3 million). It was significantly impacted by M&A transactions.

These provisional figures are awaiting final approval by the auditors and the supervisory board. The definitive figures for fiscal year 2019 as well as the annual report for 2019 will be released on March 30, 2020.

The forecast for the financial year 2020 will also be released on March 30, 2020.

Basler is the leading manufacturer of high-quality cameras and image processing components for industry, medicine, traffic and a variety of other markets. The company's product portfolio encompasses area scan and line scan cameras in compact housing dimensions, camera modules in board level variants for embedded solutions, 3D cameras, as well as frame grabber cards. The catalog is rounded off by our user-friendly pylon SDK plus a broad spectrum of accessories, including several developed specially for Basler and optimally harmonized for our cameras. Basler has three decades of experience in computer vision and is home to approximately 800 employees.

Basler AG, Hardy Mehl (CFO/COO), An der Strusbek 60 - 62, 22926 Ahrensburg, Tel. +49 (0)4102-463100, ir/baslerweb.com, www.baslerweb.com, ISIN DE 0005102008