Incap Corporation: Incap Group’s financial statements release for January–December 2023 (unaudited)

This release is a summary of Incap’s financial statements release for January–December 2023. The complete report is attached to this release as a pdf file and available on the company’s website at www.incapcorp.com.

October–December 2023 highlights

• Revenue for the fourth quarter 2023 amounted to EUR 42.4 million (10–12/2022: EUR 78.7 million). Year-on-year decrease was 46%. Excluding the impact of the company’s largest customer, revenue grew 54% and excluding also the impact of Pennatronics acquisition, the growth was 15%.
• Operating profit (EBIT) was EUR 3.7 million (EUR 12.7 million) or 8.7 % of revenue (16.1%). Year-on-year decrease was 71%.
• Adjusted operating profit (EBIT) was EUR 4.4 million (EUR 12.9 million) or 10.4% of revenue (16.4%). Year-on-year decrease was 66%.
• Net profit for the period was EUR 1.3 million (EUR 8.7 million).

January–December 2023 highlights

• On 5 July 2023, Incap acquired Pennatronics Inc., an Electronics Manufacturing Services company based in Pennsylvania, USA.
• Revenue amounted to EUR 221.6 million (1–12/2022: EUR 263.8 million). Year-on-year decrease was 16%. Excluding the impact of the company’s largest customer, revenue grew 35% and excluding also the impact of Pennatronics acquisition, the growth was 17%.
• Operating profit (EBIT) was EUR 28.2 million (EUR 38.9 million) or 12.7% of revenue (14.8%). Year-on-year decrease was 28%.
• Adjusted operating profit (EBIT) was EUR 30.6 million (EUR 40.0 million) or 13.8% of revenue (15.1%). Year-on-year decrease was 23%.
• Net profit for the period was EUR 19.8 million (EUR 27.6 million).
• Earnings per share were EUR 0.68 (EUR 0.94).
• Incap is focusing on organic and inorganic growth with a robust M&A pipeline, thus the Board of Directors of Incap Corporation proposes to the Annual General Meeting that no dividend be paid for the financial year 2023.

Unless otherwise stated, the comparison figures refer to the corresponding period in 2022. This business review is unaudited.

Key figures

*Adjusted operating profit (EBIT) is an alternative performance measure. Adjusted EBIT excludes non-recurring items and purchase price allocation amortisation. Adjusted EBIT provides comparable information between different financial years on operating profit.

Outlook for 2024

Incap estimates that the company’s revenue and operating profit (EBIT) in 2024 will be lower than in 2023.

The destocking exercise with the largest customer will impact the revenue and profitability first half of the 2024. However, Incap’s revenue is estimated to grow quarter to quarter starting first quarter of 2024 improving results over the year.

The estimates are given provided that unexpected events impacting Incap’s business environment do not occur, for example, in the availability of components.

Otto Pukk, President and CEO of Incap Corporation:

“Overall, 2023 was a good year for the electronics contract manufacturing market, although increased inventory levels were a common problem that slowed down market development and maintained price pressure. In early 2023, also Incap’s largest customer announced that their stock level had become too high and that they had to reduce their orders, leading to a decrease in our revenue.

Our close co-operation with them to reduce their inventory levels continued in the fourth quarter of the year, and as previously estimated, we saw the full impact of the decreased volumes during the final months of the year. At the same time, we managed to keep our own inventories on a healthy level. Although the destocking exercise will still affect the first half of 2024, we believe that our operations will slowly start to grow from here on, and we have already started to gradually increase the number of employees in our factory in India.

Our revenue in 2023 was EUR 221.6 million and in the fourth quarter EUR 42.4 million. Excluding sales to our largest customer, our revenue grew 35% year on year and excluding also the impact of Pennatronics acquisition, the growth was 17%. The increase in revenue was boosted by all other Incap’s units in Europe, effective sales work to existing and new customers, and the successful acquisition in the US.

Although our profitability was affected by the lower utilisation ratio of our factory in India, we were able to stay in control and to quickly adjust our cost level so that our business remained profitable both in the fourth quarter and in full year 2023. Our fourth quarter EBIT was EUR 3.7 million or 8.7% of revenue, and our full-year 2023 EBIT was EUR 28.2 million or 12.7% of revenue, which we think is an indication of our strong operating model and agility.

In order to adjust to the lower volume levels in India, we had to take hard measures and reduced workforce by over one thousand people at our factories in India. This has been tough for everyone involved, and I would like to thank the team for their efforts and commitment during this challenging adjustment period. At the same time the demand is growing at our other units, and we made investments in 2023 to support the growth. In Estonia, a new SMT line was commissioned, increasing the capacity by 50%. In Slovakia, the factory expansion project was finalised, and the plant now has 1,200 additional square metres for production. To support the growing demand, we also recruited more people at our factories in Europe.

During the year we also developed our sustainability work. We are preparing for the CSRD reporting requirements by, for instance, extending our CO2 reporting. We see the standardised sustainability reporting requirements as positive development and for our part, we are committed to continue developing our own operations in a sustainable way.

We are entering 2024 with a new starting point. Our dependence on a single customer has decreased, and our customer base is also diversified through the expansion into the US market in 2023. The share of Incap’s largest customers sales in the Group’s revenue in the fourth quarter of 2023 was 23% (73%). With Incap US, our operations now extend to Asia and Europe as well as to North America, and we are an even more interesting partner for both existing and new customers, as we can now offer our services on different continents.

However, we will not stop there. We will continue to pursue M&A transactions that create shareholder value, invest in our factories, focus on new customer acquisition and increasing sales to existing customers.

We estimate that, excluding our largest customer, our high growth rate will continue. We estimate that the sales of all factories except India will increase from the 2023 level. On the Group level, sales is expected to start growing quarter by quarter from the beginning of 2024.”

Financial reporting in 2024

In 2024, Incap will publish the following financial reports:

• business review for January–March 8 May 2024
• half-year report for January–June 26 July 2024
• business review for January–September 25 October 2024.

Webcast

Incap will hold a webcast on Thursday, 22 February 2024 at 2:00 p.m. Finnish time. The result will be presented by Otto Pukk, CEO, and Antti Pynnönen, CFO, Incap Corporation.  

The live webcast can be followed at https://incap.videosync.fi/q4-2023. During the webcast, the public can ask questions in the chat room at the address mentioned above. The recording of the broadcast will be available on the company's website at https://incapcorp.com/reports-and-presentations/ later that day.

The event is targeted for analysts, portfolio managers and the media. Welcome!

In Helsinki, 22 February 2024

INCAP CORPORATION
Board of Directors