ISRA Vision says six-month performance confirms positive forecast for fiscal year

ISRA Vision (Darmstadt, Germany), a leading provider of industrial image processing, surface inspection systems, and 3-D machine vision solutions, announced that it had stable revenues and rising earnings in the first half of financial year 2009/2010 (Oct. 1 to Sept. 30), in the face of the financial crisis. After robust business in Q1 2009/2010, ISRA saw its revenues increasing again in Q2 (January 1 to March 31, 2010). Thus, ISRA is gradually finding its way back to the path of sustainable growth. During the first 6 months, revenues reached 27.3 million Euros (PY 2008/2009: 28.4 million Euros), once again ISRA has been able to outperform the industry average. Particularly good business performance was achieved in Asia and South America, while results in Western Europe remained more or less stable. The company’s business on the North American continent has not yet recovered, however. The timely implementation of measures to reduce costs and boost efficiency led to cost savings in the amount of approx. 1.0 million Euros in the 1st half of the financial year compared to the previous year. EBT (earnings before taxes) increased by 9 percent to 4.6 million Euros in the 1st half of the year. The EBT margin, a key performance indicator within the ISRA Group, rose to 15 percent of total output – two percentage points higher than in the 1st half of 2008/2009 and in FY 2008/2009 as a whole. The financial and economic crisis has had no impact on ISRA’s long-term growth strategy. The company continues to strive toward its goal of surpassing 100 million Euros in revenues in the near future. ISRA has launched a sales and marketing offensive to pave the way for a return to profitable growth. More than 20 new solutions and applications will be introduced to customers during the current and upcoming financial years. First deliveries of systems to customers have already been carried out. Overall, more than 8 of these new products will be brought to market in the current financial year alone. The revenues growth achieved in the 2nd quarter, coupled with an increase in the order backlog to a current level of approx. 36 million Euros (PY: 31 million Euros), are indications for the management that the temporary slump in revenues may well be easing. Information from customers indicates that we can expect to see accelerating growth in the 2nd half of 2009/2010. The initiated cost-saving measures will be further advanced with the help of 3 major projects to boost efficiency, raise productivity and further streamline production processes (Lean Production). A key component of ISRA’s growth strategy is external growth through acquisitions of appropriate targets. A number of such acquisition projects are currently in preparation. Moreover, the company is working intensively to close the acquisition deal already announced. The current good business performance clearly reaffirms the forecast of Management. Assuming the economy continues to recover, and the current uncertainty on the industrial and financial markets – e.g. currency fluctuations in the case of the Euro – does not cause further turmoil on the capital markets, Management expects slight growth in revenues and stable profit margins for financial year 2009/2010 as a whole (Oct. 1, 2009 – Sept. 30, 2010). Posted by Vision Systems Design