Dr. Hönle AG: Hönle achieves almost balanced operating result in a challenging market environment after 9 months

Gilching (pta006/07.08.2024/08:40 UTC+2)

- Sales of €72.1 million are 9.6% below the previous year's figures

- Operating result of €-0.1 million is above the previous year's figure of €-6.8 million, which was impacted by special effects

- Positive operating cash flow of €4.6 million

- Outlook for 2023/24 financial year confirmed

Gilching, 7. August 2024

In the third quarter of the 2023/24 financial year the Hönle Group's business trend has been impacted by a weak environment among many machinery and equipment manufacturers. Customer demand for printing applications saw an especially notable decline prior to the drupa, a major industry trade fair. By contrast, demand was stable or rising in all other business fields. Revenue for the first nine months of financial year 2023/24 was down by 9.6% to T€ 72,056 (PY: T€ 79,740).

After a weak start to the new financial year, the operating loss (EBIT) improved from T€ 779 in the first quarter to T€ 118 for the first nine months. The operating loss for the first nine months of the previous year was T€ 6,827 and mainly reflected non-recurring effects from the discontinuation of our mobile air disinfection systems product line.

Due to the lower sales level, the personnel expenses ratio and the other operating expenses ratio with 41.4% and 15.9% were respectively higher than the previous year's figures of 36.7% and 14.2%. Earnings before taxes (EBT) amounted to T€ -1,531 (PY: T€ -7,834). Consolidated loss for the year was T€ 946 after taxes (PY: T€ 6,548), which corresponds to earnings per share of €-0.17 (PY: €-1.09).

Outlook

Adhesives segment

Hönle offers a wide range of adhesives for the electronics packaging sector and continuously expands on the range of products offered. We also expect strong growth in this market segment in the future, driven by growing data volumes, artificial intelligence, increasingly high-performance electronics products with new features and autonomous vehicles, to name just a few factors. Electronic packaging usually requires customised adhesives, making this an ideal business line for the Hönle Group as an adhesives specialist.

Medical technology adhesives are another growth area, with one important field of application being adhesives used to bond needles to syringes. This is an area in which the Hönle Group has proven expertise in the adhesive systems required for this purpose.

From a regional perspective, the Group will continue to focus on developing the U.S. market – especially the market for customised industrial adhesives – as well as the East Asian markets for electronic packaging applications. Hönle has hired additional personnel in both of these markets.

Hönle offers customers high-performance solutions with its range of UV curing adhesives and the associated UV curing devices. The Management Board plans to bring this solution expertise to the fast-growing markets for electronic pack-aging and medical technology and therefore expects profits in the Adhesives segment to increase disproportionately in the coming years.

Equipment & Systems segment

The customer restraint seen in the reporting period, particularly in the printing industry, was due not least to the drupa trade fair held at the end of May/beginning of June 2024. Usually, the drupa trade fair is followed by declining investment backlogs as business normalises.

The Hönle Group plans to expand its Lifecycle Solutions business, particularly the Equipment & Systems segment. This will enable the Group to offer value-added services during the entire product lifecycle, which spans many years. Customers will be offered comprehensive services spanning the full product lifecycle, including technical hotline support, on-site servicing and the sale of spare parts, service parts and retrofit parts. This will enable Hönle to increase its share of recurring sales in the capital equipment business.

To improve the Group's competitive standing, targeted product development is being implemented. The development process centres on the customer with the aim of providing user-friendly systems. Profitability improvements are also expected from restructuring the product range and from leveraging savings potential on the procurement side.

Project management is being expanded with the goal of strategically targeting the application fields of the future, which include technical films and coatings used for floor surfaces and in automotive engineering in addition to digital and offset printing.

Glass & Lamps segment

The Hönle Group is expanding its range of products in the area of disinfection services. For example, flash lamps are offered in addition to low- and medium-pressure lamps, allowing customers to choose from a range of disinfection levels. We also provide disinfection certificates. Hönle thus pursues a holistic approach that includes customer consulting, supplying disinfection systems, microbiological analysis to check results and technical documentation of the disinfection process.

Environmentally friendly and efficient disinfection using ultraviolet radiation is being applied more and more frequently to treat surfaces, air and water. In the area of water disinfection, the Hönle Group supplies leading manufacturers of water treatment systems with lamps, sensors and electrical components. The food, pharmaceutical and electromobility sectors represent additional growth markets for the Glass & Lamps segment. Product management is also being expanded in this segment to enable the Group to target new, potentially strong fields of application.

On the whole, the Management Board expects both revenue and earnings to increase in the Glass & Lamps segment over the next few years.

Overall assessment of the future development of the business

As already communicated, the Management Board continues to anticipate revenue of approximately € 100 million for the Hönle Group in financial year 2023/24. The Management Board also expects to generate a positive operating profit (EBIT) in financial year 2023/24.

The complete quarterly statement is available at https://www.hoenle.com/investor-relation/financial-information#reports. The preliminary figures of the 2023/24 financial year will be published on December 6th, 2024.

About Hönle

Dr. Hönle AG is a publicly traded technology company based in Gilching near Munich. The Hönle Group, with around 600 employees, develops innovative solutions for a wide range of industrial applications in the field of ultraviolet radiation and related lines of business. Hönle's activities are organised into three business units: Adhesive Systems, encompassing UV curing adhesives and the associated UV curing devices; Curing, comprising the drying and curing of paints and coatings for the printing and coating industry, as well as solar simulation systems used in material testing, and; Disinfection, involving devices for the environmentally friendly disinfection of water, air, and surfaces using UV-radiation, including microbiological success/performance monitoring. The Hönle Group supplies technology leaders and market leaders worldwide and is represented in over 20 countries with its own subsidiaries and partner companies.

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Emitter:	Dr. Hönle AG Nicolaus-Otto-Str. 2 82205 Gilching Germany
Contact Person:	Peter Weinert
Phone:	+49 8105 2083 173
E-Mail:	peter.weinert@hoenle.de
Website:	www.hoenle.de
ISIN(s):	DE0005157101 (Share)
Stock Exchange(s):	Regulated Market in Frankfurt; Free Market in Berlin, Dusseldorf, Hamburg, Hannover, Munich, Stuttgart, Tradegate