ESEC ends the year with sales up

08/01/1998

ESEC ends the year with sales up

With its semiconductor placement (SCP) unit continuing to drive company growth, Cham, Switzerland-based final assembly equipment maker ESEC Group said it saw net sales climb to CHF 478.6 million ($341.9 million) for the 1997/98 business year ended February 28, up from revenues of CHF 344.7 million ($246.4 million) last year.

Net income, after the write-off of CHF 19.7 million ($14.1 million) in development project investments, totaled CHF 24.2 million ($17.3 million). Last year, the company reported a net income of CHF 11 million ($7.9 million).

Karl Nicklaus, founder, CEO, and chairman of the 30-year-old ESEC, said the firm is targeting an average annual growth rate of between 15% and 25% through the year 2000. For the 1997/98 business year, the firm`s SCP unit accounted for CHF 340.7 million in revenues, growing some 40% over last year. Nicklaus noted, however, that its integrated component placement unit grew at about the same rate, accounting for CHF 55.9 million ($40.0 million) in revenues this year.

Nicklaus also noted that the company`s customer base is diversifying. In the 1995/96 business year, ESEC`s top ten customers accounted for 64% of its business in the SCP and ICP operations. In the just-ended business year, those customers, with the likes of Motorola, Siemens, SGS-Thomson, Anam, and Hyundai, accounted for 46% of its business.

In addition, the firm`s geographical base is also expanding, with its ESEC USA business unit seeing the most growth. In 1996, ESEC USA accounted for 10% of ESEC Group`s worldwide business; the company is forecasting that number will nearly triple to 29% this year. ESEC Europe and ESEC Asia are expected to contribute 19% and 52%, respectively.

In the past year, ESEC established a new system division focused on providing back-end factory automation and integration support, and nearly doubled manufacturing operations in Singapore, thereby tripling output of wire bonders there. - C.L.