With its results, the new Kontron (ISIN AT0000A0E9W5, WKN A0X9EJ, KTN) underlines the strength it has gained by focusing on the IoT market. In the second quarter, a gross margin of over 40% was achieved for the first time in the company’s history. The driving force behind this margin growth was once again the “Software + Solutions” segment, with a gross margin of 65.9%. Net income from continuing operations after non-controlling interests, €17.4 million or 6.2% of revenue, also reached a record level.
With an order entry of €310.2 million and a resulting book-to-bill ratio of 1.1, the encouraging trend continued in the second quarter of 2023. The positive development of operative cash flow seen in the first quarter continued with €2.1 million, and Kontron was able to turn the negative operative cash flow of €71.1 million from the first half of 2022 around to record a positive figure. Further, a record dividend of €1 per share was paid out to the shareholders of Kontron AG in the second quarter of 2023. With the acquisition of the Cellular Automotive Module Unit of Telit Inc, a specialist in 5G machine networking, and the Swiss-based firm Comlab AG, a specialist for data communication for railways, two companies with an IoT focus joined the Kontron Group. Several more transactions in the IoT segment “Software + Solutions” are planned before the end of 2024.
Hannes Niederhauser, CEO of Kontron AG: “We expect 2023 to be a very good year for Kontron. Despite fears of a recession and our customers’ high stock levels, we once again achieved a high order entry in the second quarter of €310 million compared to €283 million in revenue. The order backlog of the new Kontron thus rose by €140 million to €1,600 million in 2023. This means that all planned revenues for 2023 and around 80% of the revenues for 2024 have already been covered. The new Kontron aims to increase the company’s profitability. At the end of March, Kontron raised the net income guidance to €66 million, with an EBITDA margin of 11%. This represents an increase of more than 20% compared to the previous year. After a strong first half year, we are even likely to exceed this profit. With the planned acquisitions, we are well on track for our target of €2,000 million in revenue in 2025 – at the same time significantly increasing profitability.”
- Organic revenue growth of 15.2% to €283.2 million (Q2 2022: €245.6 million)
- EBITDA rises by 26.3% to €31.3 million (Q2 2022: €24.8 million)
- Net income grows by 93% to €17.4 million (Q2 2022: €9.0 million)
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