Switzerland's top 100 sales drop to 330.9 million Swiss francs in the first half of the year

Recently, Swiss company Bystronic disclosed its financial performance for the first half of 2024.

The financial report shows that the market situation for the Swiss Super 100 in the first half of 2024 remains very tense. Customers in various end markets are unable to fully utilize their production capacity, and operations in all regions are relatively cautious.

Despite Swiss supercar actively reducing costs, the group was unable to make up for the decrease in sales, resulting in a loss in the first half of the year.

Swiss supermarket analysts say that in recent years, there has been a significant increase in demand for complex automation solutions in the market, which is due to customers' high emphasis on improving productivity through process optimization.

(Image source: Bystronic official website)

In addition, the group's automation and software products provide opportunities for new customer groups and markets such as the United States and Australia. Swiss supercar continues to execute its strategy, positioning itself as an end-to-end solution provider for innovative machine, automation, and software products and services.

However, during the implementation of complex automation and end-to-end solution projects, high start-up costs and unplanned additional expenses were incurred, resulting in insufficient profitability of completed projects. This has had a negative impact on revenue, and Swiss supermarket is focusing on optimizing the operational processes of these projects so that future projects can be more successful.

Domenico Iacovelli, who has been serving as the CEO of Swiss Super 100 since July 1, 2024, commented, "Due to the difficult market environment and fierce competition, as well as our development towards an end-to-end solution provider, we face many challenges. We are focusing on getting closer to our customers, strengthening our product portfolio, and further optimizing our cost structure. Our innovation capabilities, long-term partnerships with numerous customers, and employee motivation together form a solid foundation for our development.

Order volume and sales revenue
Due to economic uncertainty, the order volume of Swiss supermarket group in all its regional markets decreased in the first half of this year. In the first half of the year, its overall order volume decreased to CHF 304.7 million (a 24.5% decrease at constant exchange rates), and sales decreased to CHF 330.9 million (a 26.3% decrease at constant exchange rates).

Due to many customers being unable to fully utilize their production capacity and reducing operating time, the development of the service business has also fallen short of expectations, resulting in slightly lower sales compared to last year's level.

Business results and net results
Due to sluggish sales, the pre tax profit was -23 million Swiss francs (first half of 2023: 25.3 million Swiss francs). Although Swiss supercars have significantly reduced fixed costs and operating expenses related to personnel, they cannot make up for the decline in sales. Therefore, Swiss Super 100 will continue to implement its cost optimization plan and will consider taking further measures to reduce the cost base.

For example, the group has optimized its organizational structure in Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) and Asia Pacific regions to reduce management levels and streamline processes. The one-time cost related to this plan in the first half of the year was 2 million Swiss francs. The performance for the first half of the year was -20.8 million Swiss francs (2023: 19.8 million Swiss francs).

Operating free cash flow
Due to losses, operating free cash flow was negative, reaching -26.9 million Swiss francs (first half of 2023: -34.3 million Swiss francs).

Performance prospects
Swiss supermarket expects that market conditions will remain challenging and there will be no significant recovery in performance in the second half of 2024. Therefore, the group expects that the annual order volume and sales revenue will be lower than last year, and there will be significant losses accordingly.

The following are the highlights of Switzerland's top 100 companies' performance in the first half of 2024:

Source: OFweek