News › JENOPTIK · signi­fi­cant and pro­fi­ta­ble growth expec­ted in 2021

  • Group reve­nue of 767.2 mil­lion euros in 2020, down due to Covid-19; return to near prior-year level in Q4
  • Adjus­ted EBITDA mar­gin of 17.6 per­cent excl. PPA shar­ply up on expectations
  • App­re­cia­ble growth in demand in Q4; order back­log only slightly below prior-year level; good basis for 2021
  • Free cash flow remains at high level with 62.3 mil­lion euros
  • Pro­po­sed divi­dend of 0.25 euros per share for 2020
  • 2021: Reve­nue growth in low dou­ble-digit per­cen­tage range; EBITDA mar­gin of 16.0–17.0 per­cent (prior year 14.6 percent)

Jen­op­tik ended the 2020 report­ing year with a strong fourth quar­ter and was able to signi­fi­cantly increase pro­fi­ta­bi­lity in 2020. This posi­tive deve­lo­p­ment was sup­ported by sus­tained high demand from the semi­con­duc­tor equip­ment indus­try, the acqui­si­tion of TRIOPTICS and a lar­gely sta­ble capi­tal spen­ding by public sec­tor cus­to­mers. The com­pany used the year that was chal­len­ging due to the pan­de­mic to drive for­ward important stra­te­gic decis­i­ons for its deve­lo­p­ment into a lea­ding inter­na­tio­nal pho­to­nics group, the stream­li­ning of struc­tures and grea­ter cost efficiency.

“At the begin­ning of 2021, Jen­op­tik stands for growth, inno­va­tion, and pro­fi­ta­bi­lity even more than it did a year ago. By focu­sing on growth areas in pho­to­nics, we mana­ged the Covid-19 year 2020 well. We are con­fi­dent for 2021 thanks to an upturn in demand, impro­ved cost effi­ci­ency and exter­nal growth. We expect reve­nue growth in the low dou­ble-digit per­cen­tage range and want to increase pro­fi­ta­bi­lity to an EBITDA mar­gin of 16.0 to 17.0 per­cent. Thanks to lea­ding posi­ti­ons in pro­mi­sing future mar­kets, Jen­op­tik is well posi­tio­ned to grow pro­fi­ta­bly also in the medium term,” Dr. Ste­fan Trae­ger, Pre­si­dent & CEO of JENOPTIK AG comm­ents on the development.

Reve­nue deve­lo­p­ment marked by Covid-19 pan­de­mic – pro­fi­ta­bi­lity signi­fi­cantly improved

In the 2020 fis­cal year, Jen­op­tik gene­ra­ted reve­nue of 767.2 mil­lion euros, which, as expec­ted, was cle­arly down on the prior-year figure of adjus­ted 837.0 mil­lion euros, mainly due to the Covid-19 pan­de­mic and struc­tu­ral issues in the auto­mo­tive indus­try. As in the prior year, the fourth quar­ter was stron­gest, with 262.2 mil­lion euros (prior year: adjus­ted 255.7 mil­lion euros). The two com­pa­nies acqui­red during the report­ing year, TRIOPTICS and INTEROB, con­tri­bu­ted 47.2 mil­lion euros to annual reve­nue in 2020. On a regio­nal level, reve­nue in Asia rose by 9 per­cent to 105.8 mil­lion euros in spite of Covid-19, mainly due to the acqui­si­tion of TRIOPTICS. Europe (excl. Ger­many) remained rela­tively sta­ble at 226.1 mil­lion euros. By con­trast, the Ame­ri­cas (195.5 mil­lion euros), Ger­many (214.7 mil­lion euros), and the Middle East/Africa (25.2 mil­lion euros) were app­re­cia­bly affec­ted by the impacts of the pan­de­mic. As in the prior year, for­eign reve­nue amoun­ted to around 72 percent.

Thanks to a lower cost of sales, first posi­tive effects from the struc­tu­ral and port­fo­lio mea­su­res imple­men­ted and tan­gi­ble cost savings, the gross mar­gin rea­ched 34.2 per­cent in 2020 and was thus on a par with the prior-year figure of 34.1 percent.

Taking into account expen­ses for the plan­ned struc­tu­ral and port­fo­lio mea­su­res amoun­ting to minus 19.1 mil­lion euros (prior year: minus 4.0 mil­lion euros), which mainly incur­red in the Light & Pro­duc­tion divi­sion and VINCORION, adjus­ted EBITDA amoun­ted to 130.7 mil­lion euros (prior year: adjus­ted 138.0 mil­lion euros). This resul­ted in an adjus­ted EBITDA mar­gin of 17.0 per­cent (prior year: adjus­ted 16.5 per­cent), or 17.6 per­cent excl. PPA. On a non-adjus­ted basis, the mar­gin was 14.6 per­cent (prior year: 15.7 per­cent). In 2020, TRIOPTICS and INTEROB con­tri­bu­ted a total of 6.0 mil­lion euros to EBITDA, inclu­ding PPA of minus 4.6 mil­lion euros. Taking into account the lower finan­cial result, due among other things to the acqui­si­ti­ons, and lower taxes, Jen­op­tik once again achie­ved mark­edly posi­tive ear­nings after tax of 42.7 mil­lion euros (prior year: 67.6 mil­lion euros) or ear­nings per share of 0.73 euros (prior year: 1.18 euros), despite the chal­len­ging environment.

Order back­log crea­tes strong basis for 2021

Jen­op­tik recor­ded good growth in order intake in the fourth quar­ter of 2020, and alt­hough a figure of 228.5 mil­lion euros was not quite enough to reach the prior-year value of an adjus­ted 234.0 mil­lion euros, it was the hig­hest level of demand in the year covered by the report, assis­ted by the con­tri­bu­tion made by TRIOPTICS. At 739.4 mil­lion euros, the order intake for the full year was con­sider­a­bly down on the adjus­ted prior-year figure of 792.7 mil­lion euros. The order back­log, at 460.1 mil­lion euros in 2020, was almost at the same good level as in the prior year (adjus­ted 464.7 mil­lion euros). This gives cause for opti­mism in 2021, espe­ci­ally as 78.5 per­cent of these orders are expec­ted to be reco­gni­zed as reve­nue in the new fis­cal year. At the end of 2019, this adjus­ted figure was just 68.0 percent.

Good balance sheet qua­lity and strong free cash flow

Despite the signi­fi­cant increase in expen­dit­ure for exter­nal growth, Jen­op­tik con­ti­nues to have a high balance sheet qua­lity. At the end of 2020, the equity ratio was 51.5 per­cent (31/12/2019: 60.5 per­cent). Net debt rose to 201.0 mil­lion euros as of Decem­ber 31, 2020 due to the acqui­si­ti­ons (31/12/2019: minus 9.1 mil­lion euros). Despite a chal­len­ging envi­ron­ment, the com­pany again gene­ra­ted a mark­edly posi­tive free cash flow of 62.3 mil­lion euros in 2020 (prior year: 77.2 mil­lion euros). Wit­hout the cash-effec­tive impacts of struc­tu­ral and port­fo­lio mea­su­res, the free cash flow came to 67.2 mil­lion euros (prior year: 79.3 mil­lion euros).

Pay­ment of a sub­stan­ti­ally hig­her divi­dend of 0.25 euros per share proposed

In view of solid balance sheet ratios and a com­for­ta­ble liqui­dity situa­tion, the Exe­cu­tive Board and Super­vi­sory Board of JENOPTIK AG will pro­pose to pay a sub­stan­ti­ally hig­her divi­dend of 0.25 euros (prior year: 0.13 euros) to the share­hol­ders to the Annual Gene­ral Mee­ting on June 9, 2021 (to be held vir­tually as last year). The Jen­op­tik boards are main­tai­ning their con­sis­tent divi­dend policy with this recom­men­da­tion. Share­hol­ders of JENOPTIK AG should par­ti­ci­pate appro­pria­tely in the suc­cess of the com­pany, irre­spec­tive of the impacts of the Covid-19 pan­de­mic, two acqui­si­ti­ons, and capi­tal expenditure.

“Thanks to our good balance sheet qua­lity and the ability to gene­rate sus­tain­ably high free cash flows, we are able to finance our future plan­ned growth very well. Thanks to a strong repu­ta­tion and the streng­the­ned com­mit­ment to more sus­taina­bi­lity, we also recently mana­ged to suc­cessfully place our first deben­ture bond with a ’green com­po­nent’. We rai­sed 400 mil­lion euros on the finan­cial mar­kets at favorable inte­rest rates. This gives us the lati­tude to con­sider acqui­si­ti­ons and invest­ments in our core busi­ness of pho­to­nics and con­firms the cor­rect­ness of our solid finan­cing stra­tegy,” adds CFO Hans-Die­ter Schumacher.

Deve­lo­p­ment of the divisions

Despite con­ti­nuing good demand from the semi­con­duc­tor equip­ment indus­try, reve­nue in the Light & Optics divi­sion decreased from adjus­ted 331.8 mil­lion euros to 318.0 mil­lion euros. The main reason for this was the reluc­tance to invest seen in the bio­pho­to­nics and indus­trial solu­ti­ons sec­tors due to the pan­de­mic. TRIOPTICS con­tri­bu­ted reve­nue of 27.8 mil­lion euros. In terms of ear­nings, Light & Optics bene­fi­ted from a good pro­duct mix and stron­ger growth in hig­her-mar­gin pro­ducts. Adjus­ted EBITDA the­r­e­fore increased from 71.7 mil­lion euros in the prior year to 72.7 mil­lion euros in the 2020 fis­cal year, despite nega­tive PPA of 4.6 mil­lion euros. TRIOPTICS con­tri­bu­ted 4.3 mil­lion euros to ear­nings. Accor­din­gly, the adjus­ted EBITDA mar­gin impro­ved from the alre­ady high level of 21.5 per­cent in the prior year to a new figure of 22.8 per­cent. The signi­fi­cant impro­ve­ment in the order intake, by 34.8 mil­lion euros to 339.5 mil­lion euros (prior year: adjus­ted 304.7 mil­lion euros), which was attri­bu­ta­ble in par­ti­cu­lar to strong demand in the semi­con­duc­tor equip­ment indus­try and TRIOPTICS, gives hope for a sus­tained good deve­lo­p­ment in 2021. The order back­log also rose signi­fi­cantly, from an adjus­ted 143.5 mil­lion euros to 178.0 mil­lion euros.

In 2020, reve­nue in the Light & Pro­duc­tion divi­sion was stron­gly impac­ted by Covid-19 and the reluc­tance to invest in the auto­mo­tive indus­try. At 178.9 mil­lion euros it was the­r­e­fore shar­ply down on the prior year’s figure of 228.9 mil­lion euros. Despite a strong drop in the cost of sales, the division’s adjus­ted EBITDA fell from 25.8 mil­lion euros to 15.8 mil­lion euros. The adjus­ted EBITDA mar­gin for 2020 came to 8.8 per­cent, com­pared with 11.3 per­cent in the prior year. The manage­ment has imple­men­ted exten­sive struc­tu­ral and port­fo­lio mea­su­res amoun­ting to 7.9 mil­lion euros, which were alre­ady show­ing a posi­tive impact and will take full effect by 2022. Due to post­po­ne­ments and a major can­cel­la­tion the order intake, at 157.8 mil­lion euros, was also signi­fi­cantly down on the prior year (prior year: 199.3 mil­lion euros). Nevert­hel­ess, the divi­sion recei­ved a major order with great poten­tial from the Spa­nish sup­plier Gestamp in the field of auto­ma­tion. The order intake includes orders from INTEROB worth around 20.4 mil­lion euros.

The Light & Safety divi­sion showed that it could con­ti­nue to grow pro­fi­ta­bly, even in a chal­len­ging envi­ron­ment. Sta­ble capi­tal spen­ding by public-sec­tor cus­to­mers led to an increase in reve­nue by 4.9 mil­lion euros to 114.0 mil­lion euros (prior year: 108.7 mil­lion euros). Thanks to a strong final quar­ter, EBITDA impro­ved signi­fi­cantly, by more than a fifth to an adjus­ted 22.7 mil­lion euros. The EBITDA mar­gin accor­din­gly increased to an adjus­ted 19.9 per­cent (prior year: 17.3 per­cent). Ano­ther posi­tive high­light in 2020 was the signi­fi­cant impro­ve­ment in the free cash flow from 11.3 mil­lion euros to adjus­ted 21.8 mil­lion euros, thanks in part to the afo­re­men­tio­ned impro­ve­ment in ear­nings and an effi­ci­ent receiv­a­bles manage­ment system.

VINCORION’s per­for­mance was affec­ted by unch­an­ged strong demand in the Power Sys­tems unit but con­sidera­ble pro­blems in the Avia­tion and Energy & Drive units. Accor­din­gly, reve­nue of VINCORION fell by 7.9 per­cent to 151.7 mil­lion euros (prior year: 164.8 mil­lion euros). The decrease in reve­nue and a lower-mar­gin pro­duct mix led to a decline in adjus­ted EBITDA from 24.2 mil­lion euros to 20.6 mil­lion euros, or in terms of the adjus­ted EBITDA mar­gin, from 14.7 per­cent to 13.6 per­cent. Here, again, free cash flow increased sub­stan­ti­ally from 1.0 mil­lion euros to 9.8 mil­lion euros. Thanks to the long-term nature of many orders, the order back­log remained at a high level of 160.3 mil­lion euros (31/12/2019: 169.7 mil­lion euros).

Out­look for 2021: signi­fi­cant and pro­fi­ta­ble growth expected

Based on good order intake growth in the fourth quar­ter of 2020, a well-fil­led pro­ject pipe­line, and the con­tin­ued pro­mi­sing deve­lo­p­ment in the semi­con­duc­tor equip­ment busi­ness, the Exe­cu­tive Board expects fur­ther growth in the cur­rent fis­cal year. In addi­tion to the orga­nic growth in the divi­si­ons, TRIOPTICS, which will be con­so­li­da­ted for the full year for the first time, will also con­tri­bute to the posi­tive development.

For 2021, Jen­op­tik is expec­ting reve­nue growth in the low dou­ble-digit per­cen­tage range, inclu­ding TRIOPTICS (prior year: 767.2 mil­lion euros). The Group curr­ently fore­casts EBITDA (ear­nings before inte­rest, taxes, depre­cia­tion, and amor­tiza­tion, inclu­ding impair­ment los­ses and rever­sals) to increase signi­fi­cantly in the cur­rent fis­cal year (prior year: 111.6 mil­lion euros). The EBITDA mar­gin is due to reach bet­ween 16.0 and 17.0 per­cent (prior year: not adjus­ted 14.6 percent).

Due to the uncer­tainty gene­ra­ted by the Covid-19 lock­down at the begin­ning of the year and the risk of a third wave of the pan­de­mic, a more pre­cise fore­cast is not curr­ently pos­si­ble. Howe­ver, we plan to spe­cify the fore­cast during the course of the year.

The pre­sen­ta­tion on the 2020 Annual Finan­cial State­ments and the 2020 Annual Report are available on the Jen­op­tik web­site in the Inves­tors / Reports and Pre­sen­ta­ti­ons sec­tion. Images are available for down­load from our media cen­ter at media.jenoptik.com.

About Jen­op­tik

Opti­cal tech­no­lo­gies are the very basis of our busi­ness: Jen­op­tik is a glo­bally active tech­no­logy group and is active in the three pho­to­nics-based divi­si­ons: Light & Optics, Light & Pro­duc­tion and Light & Safety. Under the TRIOPTICS brand, Jen­op­tik also offers opti­cal test and manu­fac­tu­ring sys­tems for the qua­lity con­trol of len­ses, objec­ti­ves and camera modu­les. VINCORION is the brand for our mecha­tro­nic busi­ness. Our key tar­get mar­kets pri­ma­rily include the semi­con­duc­tor indus­try, medi­cal tech­no­logy, auto­mo­tive and mecha­ni­cal engi­nee­ring, traf­fic, avia­tion as well as secu­rity and defense tech­no­logy indus­tries. Appro­xi­m­ately 4,500 employees work for Jen­op­tik world­wide. The Group’s head­quar­ters are in Jena (Ger­many). JENOPTIK AG is lis­ted on the Ger­man Stock Exch­ange in Frank­furt and is included in the SDax and TecDax. In the 2020 fis­cal year, Jen­op­tik gene­ra­ted reve­nue of approx. 767 mil­lion euros.

Kon­takt

Les­lie Iltgen
JENOPTIK AG
Com­mu­ni­ca­ti­ons & Inves­tor Relations
+49 3641 65–2255
moc.kitponej@negtli.eilsel