Aixtron grows rapidly - order intake disappoints

With sales up by almost 50 percent to around 416 million euros, the operating result (EBIT) soared by 180 percent to just under 45.3 million euros, as the company announced on Thursday. At the bottom line, profit rose by 66 percent to 83.5 million euros. However, the growth in incoming orders was comparatively meagre at two percent to 436 million euros.

Düsseldorf (Reuters) - Aixtron, which manufactures equipment for the chip industry, grew rapidly in the first nine months of the year.

At times, this led to a discount of over seven percent on the stock exchange. The MDax stock later recovered its losses and turned positive. "The market had expected a higher order intake, which could raise questions with regard to the growth forecast for 2024," commented Oliver Wojahn from SRH AlsterResearch.

However, CEO Felix Grawert believes Aixtron is "fully on track" and confirmed the targets for 2023, which envisage orders of between EUR 620 and 700 million, revenue of between EUR 600 and 660 million and an EBIT margin of between 25 and 27 percent.

Unlike rival Süss Microtec, there are no longer any problems with exports to China, as an Aixtron spokesperson explained. At the end of 2022 and in the first quarter of this year, Aixtron still had to resolve concerns with the authorities in order to obtain export licenses. Chip supplier Süss Microtec had previously cut its annual targets and blamed the stricter export controls for exports to China.

(Report by Anneli Palmen, edited by Ralf Banser. If you have any queries, please contact our editorial team at [e-mail] (for politics and the economy) or [e-mail] (for companies and markets).)