Despite continued disruptions caused by supply chain issues, Agfa’s Digital Print & Chemicals division’s top line grew substantially in the third quarter, “mainly driven by the sign & display business,” with the company signing its first contracts for Agfa-branded Onset wide-format machines. The Agfa-Gevaert Group posted a net loss of 17 million Euro.
Adjusted EBITDA increased from 21 million Euro (4.9% of revenue) in the third quarter of 2021 to 23 million Euro (4.9% of revenue), “in spite of inflationary pressure and supply chain issues.” Adjusted EBIT reached 7 million Euro, versus 6 million Euro in the third quarter of 2021.
Restructuring and non-recurring items resulted in an expense of 13 million Euro, versus an expense of 7 million Euro in the third quarter of 2021. "This increase reflects investments in various transformation projects, including the organization of the Offset Solutions activities into a stand-alone legal entity structure and the re-organization of the Group’s operating model," Agfa said.
"The net finance costs amounted to minus 5 million Euro. Income tax expenses amounted to minus 5 million Euro versus 1 million Euro in the third quarter of 2021. As a result of the elements mentioned above, the Agfa-Gevaert Group posted a net loss of 17 million Euro."
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| Agfa CEO Pascal Juéry |
“In these times of exceptional economic and geopolitical instability, we saw strong contrasts between the third quarter performances of our various activities,” said Pascal Juéry, president and CEO of the Agfa-Gevaert Group.
“The HealthCare IT and Offset Solutions divisions performed well, with strong improvements in profitability. The Radiology Solutions and Digital Print & Chemicals divisions continued to struggle with the lockdowns in China, supply chain issues and cost inflation. Several activities also felt the impact of the weakening economic environment, mainly in Europe and China.
“Our confidence in the strategy we have outlined for our Digital Print & Chemicals division is strengthened by the recognition of the superiority of our systems by the market and by industry experts, exemplified by the Pinnacle Product awards and the essenscia Innovation award we recently won.
“In August, we signed a share purchase agreement with AURELIUS Group for the sale of our Offset Solutions division. We are on track to complete the transaction in the course of the first quarter of 2023.”
Digital Print & Chemicals – Q3 2022
The Digital Print & Chemicals division’s top line "grew substantially versus the third quarter of 2021, mainly driven by the sign & display business,” Agfa said. “Some business areas, especially in electronics and industrial inkjet applications, were impacted by the weaker economic environment, mainly in Europe and Asia. Demand remains solid for the products supporting the green energy transition (Zirfon membranes and Orgacon for hybrid cars), as well as for the industrial film products.
"In the field of digital print, the top line of the sign & display business grew strongly. The ink product ranges for sign & display applications continued to perform well. In spite of industry-wide logistic challenges for the high-end equipment, the top line of the wide-format printing equipment business continued its upward trend.
"In the field of industrial inkjet, the décor printing business was impacted by the weakening economic environment, as customers are postponing investments in their digitization process.
"The development of the Speedset single-pass packaging printer of the recently acquired Inca Digital Printers is proceeding as planned. The machine is generating strong interest among potential customers. In the third quarter, contracts were signed for the delivery of the first Agfa-branded Onset wide-format machines.
Outlook
"The Agfa-Gevaert Group expects a continuing impact of cost inflation, supply chain issues, COVID lockdowns in China and the uncertain geopolitical and economic situation in the coming quarters. While the raw material cost inflation started to ease, salary cost inflation is expected to remain a concern in the near future."
