Basler Continues its Road of Success With Strong Growth and Extraordinary Profitability

Basler presented final figures for the first six months of 2017. In the first six months of the fiscal year 2017, the group's incoming orders amounted to Euro 100.4 million (previous year: Euro 50.2 million, +100 %) and were thus just below total incoming orders of the previous year. The group’s sales of Euro 78.5 million were 62 % above the previous year’s level (Euro 48.5 million). The gross profit margin slightly increased and amounted to 50.3 % (previous year: 49.7 %). The earnings before taxes (EBT) for the group were positively impacted by economies of scale and amounted to Euro 18.2 million (previous year: Euro 5.3 million). The pre-tax return rate amounted to 23 % (previous year: 11 %). At a slightly increased tax ratio, the result per share went up from Euro 1.19 to Euro 4.03.

“In a very dynamic market environment, Basler AG closed the first half-year of 2017 with new record values in incoming orders and sales. For the first six months of 2017, the VDMA (Verband Deutscher Maschinen- und Anlagenbau, German engineering association) reported the strongest growth for image processing components since 15 years. For German manufacturers of image processing components this meant an order growth by 47 % and a sales growth by 43 % - in the same period Basler’s incoming orders grew by 100 % and sales by 62 %. With these tailwinds we are very well prepared for the second half-year of 2017 and will continue to forge ahead with our growth strategy. Regarding the market situation, after a very dynamic start of the year, we expect a slowdown in the second half-year that can already be seen in our incoming orders”, says Hardy Mehl, CFO. 

Recently, the company raised its 2017 forecast and now plans within a group’s sales corridor of Euro 140-150 million at a pre-tax margin of 15-18 %.