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ISRA follows its proven growth strategy – Acquisitions in sight

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– Revenue increase of 9 % to 48.7 million euros (Q2-YTD-13 / 14: 44.8 million euros)
– EBT grow by 10 % to 9.1 million euros (Q2-YTD-13 / 14: 8.3 million euros)
– Margins referenced to total output again at high level:
– EBITDA margin at 26 % (Q2-YTD-13 / 14: 26 %)
– EBIT margin at 17 % (Q2-YTD-13 / 14: 17 %)
– EBT margin at 17 % (Q2-YTD-13 / 14: 17 %)
– Gross margin stable at 61 % referenced to total output (Q2-YTD-13 / 14: 61 %)
– High order backlog of currently more than 65 million euros (PY: approx. 60 million euros)
– Management reinforcement in the Operations sector with focus on efficiency and cash flow optimization – Results expected in the medium term
– Annual goal in sight: profitable double-digit growth with at least stable margins planned
– Intensification of acquisition activities – Projects in advanced stage
ISRA VISION AG (ISIN: DE 0005488100), one of the world–s top companies for industrial image pro-cessing (Machine Vision) as well as globally leading in surface inspection of web materials and 3D machine vision applications, continues its profitable growth course in the second quarter of the 2014/2015 financial year. With a revenue increase of 9 percent to 48.7 million euros (Q2-YTD-13/14: 44.8 million euros) and an EBT growth (Earnings Before Taxes) of 10 percent to 9.1 million euros (Q2-YTD-13/14: 8.3 million euros), the company is consequently pursuing its growth objectives. The EBT margin compared to revenues increases by one percentage point to 19 percent (Q2-YTD-13/14: 18%), compared to total output it corresponds again to 17 percent as in the same period of the last year. The operative cash flow with 7.3 million euros is also in the same range to the previous year (Q2-YTD-13/14: 7.2 million euros). The equity ratio improves in the first six months of the current financial year to 59 percent (September 30, 2014: 58%) – together with the available credit lines, ISRA is equipped with solid capital resources for future growth. For the second half of the year, management anticipates an increasing demand and the completion of an acquisition project. The earnings per share after taxes increase to 1.41 euro (Q2-YTD-13/14: 1.30 euro).
In addition to revenues and EBT, Earnings Before Interest and Taxes (EBIT) also increase to 9.4 mil-lion euros (Q2-YTD-13/14: 8.6 million euros), the EBIT margin referenced to total output amounts to 17 percent, as in the previous year. With an EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization) of 13.8 million euros (Q2-YTD-13/14: 13.0 million euros), the EBITDA margin also reaches the value of the previous year with 26 percent referenced to total output (Q2-YTD-13/14: 26%). The gross margin (total output minus cost of materials and labor of production and engineering) shows with 61 percent referenced to total output a similar stable development (Q2-YTD-13/14: 61%).
In the first six months of the 2014/2015 financial year, ISRA further advanced the systematic rein-forcement of the national and international teams throughout the world. The good demand from North America in the first three months continues in the second quarter of the financial year. For Asia, the company anticipates rising revenues in the second half of the year, supported in part by an increasing demand dynamics from China – the largest Asian customer market. The order entries in Europe show a similar level compared to the start of the financial year. For the second half of the year, the company expects a positive business development in this region.
In the reporting period, ISRA continued to grow in both segments – Surface Vision and Industrial Au-tomation. The Industrial Automation segment is characterized by a broad customer base, mainly from the automotive industry, from which the company records a good demand in the first half of the current financial year. As such, revenues increase by 23 percent to 9.6 million euros in the first six months (Q2-YTD-13/14: 7.8 million euros). EBIT improve by 18 percent to 1.8 million euros (Q2-YTD-13/14: 1.5 million euros), while the EBIT margin of 17 percent referenced to total output is at the level of the previous year (Q2-YTD-13/14: 17%). With the consequent market introduction of the “Plug & Automate” family, the technical characteristics and advantages of this innovation are being noticed by more and more customers – one premium car manufacturer plans to use the products comprehensively. The sustainability of “Plug & Automate” was a decisive factor for receiving the German Industry Innovation Award.
Revenues in the Surface Vision segment climb to 39.1 million euros in the first half of the financial year (Q2-YTD-13/14: 37.0 million euros). EBIT increase by 6 percent to 7.6 million euros (Q2-YTD-13/14: 7.1 million euros), which corresponds to a margin improvement of one percentage point of 18 percent referenced to total output (Q2-YTD-13/14: 17%). In the Metals unit, investments in new products in the second quarter contributed to additional orders. The dynamics in the Plastics industry continues – the company expects further increasing revenues for the second half of the year. In the Solar business, the high level of the previous year was continued in the first six months of the current financial year and even increased with order entries from Asia. In the Glass unit, management assumes a revival in the second half of the year – also based on intensified sales activities in the thin glass unit. The Paper business shows a similar development – increasing order entries are expected in the second half of the year. The revenues in the niche market of Security Paper are in line with planning – the increasing internationalization of the marketing and sales activities will reach a broader customer base in the future. The expansion of the product portfolio for customers of the Printing industry is intended to develop additional market potential and generate further growth.
The latest version of the Yield Management software “EPROMI” (Enterprise Production Management Intelligence), which can be used to prepare management decisions in production through optimal pro-cessing and interpretation of large data volumes, is currently being launched on the market. The first test results at customer locations are positive and confirm the potential of this version. “EPROMI” is intended not only to generate revenue impulses, but also additional USPs in the core business. The first cautious step into the semiconductor industry with a product for wafer inspection was confirmed by a follow-up order. ISRA will continue to invest in this market and develop additional revenue potentials in the process. Additional impulses are also expected from the 3D product expansions in the field of white-light interferometry – as underscored by customer requests and the interest at trade fairs.
Besides, the further expansion of the CSSC (Customer Support and Service Center) will be one of the strategic key issues in the medium-term. The goal is to further expand the share of the service reve-nues. While continuing the growth course, the main focus remains on efficiency and productivity in-crease in the Operations unit. The targeted activities for a sustainable optimization in this area also resulted in a reinforcement of management. The further improvement of the production processes will contribute significantly to optimize the working capital and the cash flow.
Successful acquisitions have already been one of the growth engines in the past. With the integration of companies, ISRA is pursuing different strategic goals: gaining access to new markets that can be assigned directly or indirectly to large, long-term future markets, expanding the technological base and increasing market shares in existing customer markets. Several acquisition projects with high synergy potentials are currently being processed, while few of them are in an advanced stage. Management plans on finalizing at least one project in this financial year upon positive examination result in the short-term.
With the first six months of the current financial year, ISRA underscores once again the long-term growth course. As reported in the first quarter, the global markets show an inconsistent picture. The company responds to it with product innovations as well as intensive marketing and sales activities. With the current order backlog of more than 65 million euros (PY: approx. 60 million euros) and the positive demand development in several regions and industries, management continues to focus on revenue growth in the double-digit range (approx. 10 %) and at least stable margins. With further targeted extensions of the Management and the infrastructure, the company concentrates strategically as well as operationally on implementing the planned revenue dimension of 150 million euros in the medium term.
Further information is available at www.isravision.com.

ISRA Vision AG, together with its subsidiaries, is worldwide leading in surface inspection of web materials. Furthermore, it is one of the globally leading providers of machine vision programs, specialising in the area of 3D machine vision, in particular for “3D robot vision”.
The core competence of the company is the ISRA-BrainWARE®, an innovative software for intelligent machine vision systems. Here, the scientific know-how from the fields of optics, lighting technology, surveying technology, physics, image processing and classification algorithms and a complex system design are combined. Machine vision is a key technology for visualising systems that imitate the human eye. Today–s ISRA applications focus primarily on the automation of production and quality assurance of goods and products supplied to large, future-oriented markets such as energy, healthcare, food, mobility and information. The customers mainly include renowned global players from the respective sectors. With more than 25 locations worldwide, ISRA offers customer proximity everywhere and ensures optimum service and support.
In the past sixteen years, ISRA has shown profitable growth with an annual average increase in sales of approx. 25 percent. Currently the company employs approx. 600 people worldwide.
Further information are available at www.isravision.com.