Basler Releases Q3 Earnings, Expects to Exceed 2019 Revenue by End of 2020
Basler AG reported revenue of €40.3 million for the quarter ending Sept. 30, down 3% from the previous year’s third quarter. Sales revenue for the nine-month period ending Sept. 30 increased 5%, from €123.2 million to €129.2 million. Earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter dropped 5 cents (€, year over year) to 40 cents (€).
Basler estimated closing the fiscal year at a mark of €165 million in revenue, which would bring its fourth-quarter revenue total to just under €36 million (down from just under €39 million for the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2019, and up €3 million from its previous annual revenue total of €162 million).
Incoming order totals for the industrial camera and image processing components manufacturer, too, dropped year over year for the three-month period (down 6% to €36 million). The company reported a nine-month year-over-year increase in this area of 5%, reaching €128.3 million.
Basler reported a nearly 50% increase in net income for the first nine months of 2020, as compared to the 2019 fiscal year. Net income was over €4 million for the quarter and €13.7 million for the nine-month period. That total was €9.3 million for the first nine months of 2019.
“The very good results of the first nine months of the fiscal year are still overshadowed by the current economic outlook due to the corona pandemic,” Basler said in its earnings release and nine-month report published Nov. 5.
“We assume that the capital goods markets and the associated computer vision market will continue to be negatively affected in the coming quarters. In addition, we anticipate seasonally lower demand for machine vision components in semiconductor and electronics applications in the fourth quarter. As expected, this was already apparent in the third quarter.”
In the outlook of its nine-month report, Basler noted that demand from image processing components in application fields for semiconductor and electronics traditionally intensifies toward the turn of the year. The company said it anticipates comparably weak demand for image processing components for the automation industry, and “continuously” weak demand for capital goods in the upcoming months. Basler said it anticipates this to be the case particularly in Europe and the Americas, though demand for image processing components in the company’s regional China market is recovering.
“Consequently, fourth-quarter incoming orders are expected to start increasing again, whereas sales are expected to remain rather on the level of the third quarter’s incoming orders due to the time offset,” the company said.
Customers in Asia generated slightly more than half of all sales for the nine-month period; Basler cited the ability of China to recover from the coronavirus lockdown, as well as electronics and semiconductor demand, for that proportion of sales. The EMEA and the Americas contributed 30% and 16% of sales, respectively.
Once again in the first three quarters of the fiscal year (2019 and 2020), Basler spent more than €17.5 million on development management. The company announced 24 new models of its ace 2 Basic and ace 2 Pro area scan cameras in September, and added four new models to its MED ace camera product line. The new MEDs were developed for medical and life sciences applications. Basler also commenced production on a new 3D camera based on the time-of-flight principle, supporting smart factory, automated vehicle, mobile robot, and object recognition applications.
The company said its primary growth drivers — automation, image processing in new application sectors outside the factory, and the networking of intelligent machines and products (Industry 4.0 and/or IoT) “continue to be intact.” Basler said sales in these areas could accelerate in the medium term, contributing to the company aiming to reach a sales level of approximately €250 million in its medium-term planning.
Basler, on Nov. 4, also made changes to its executive board. Current Chief Commercial Officer John Jennings requested that the supervisory not renew his contract, set to expire at the end of the calendar year. The board accepted Jennings’ request and appointed Alexandre Temme his successor. Jennings will continue with the company as managing director of the Americas activities. Temme has been with Basler since 2002. Since 2010 he has managed the company’s global sales.
*$1M U.S. = €1.18M
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