u-blox Reports First Half 2023 Results with Double-Digit Revenue Growth

Ad hoc announcement pursuant to article 53 LR

• Revenue increased by 12.9% (+15.0% at constant currencies) to CHF 332.3 million
• EBITDA (adjusted) of CHF 84.0 million, compared to CHF 76.6 million, corresponding to an adjusted EBITDA margin of 25.3%
• EBIT (adjusted) reached CHF 61.7 million with a corresponding margin of 18.6%
• Net profit (adjusted) amounted to CHF 48.3 million
• Balance sheet remains solid with net cash position of CHF 54.6 million
• Revised FY 2023 guidance in line with market dynamics

THALWIL, SWITZERLAND / ACCESSWIRE / August 18, 2023 / u-blox (SIX:UBXN), a global leader in wireless and positioning technologies, today announced its financial results for the first half-year (H1) ended 30 June 2023.

u-blox achieved strong results in the first half of 2023, with double-digit revenue growth compared to H1 2022. Revenues grew by 15.0% at constant currencies, mostly driven by volume growth in its focus markets of automotive and industrial applications. EBITDA (adjusted) reached CHF 84.0 million, EBIT (adjusted) increased by 7.5% to CHF 61.7 million and net profit amounted to CHF 48.3 million in the period.

After a strong up-cycle, u-blox revises its full-year 2023 guidance, reflecting unfavorable developments in foreign exchange (FX) rates and overstocking by customers as a result of the supply constraints in 2022. Revenues and profitability are thus expected to be negatively impacted in the third quarter (Q3) with an improvement in Q4 2023. As a result, for the full-year u-blox now expects revenues to develop between -6% to 0% and profitability margins in the range of 18-22% for adjusted EBITDA and 10-14% for adjusted EBIT.

Stephan Zizala, u-blox's Chief Executive Officer, commented, "I am pleased with our strong first half-year results. We grew revenues by double digits on top of an exceptional growth realized in the first half of last year. We also achieved good profitability with an EBIT margin of 18.6% in line with the guidance initially provided for 2023.

In a softening macro-economic and global semiconductor market environment, our orderbook for the second half of 2023 developed more slowly than initially anticipated. Mainly due to unfavorable FX rates and overstocking, we expect Q3 revenues and profitability to be weak, with an improvement in Q4.

While we must deal with cycle adaptation, I remain very confident about u-blox's long-term outlook and growth trajectory thanks to our strong structural growth drivers in automotive and industrial target applications. We are winning important new projects at leading customers. A large design-win for automated driving ramping in 2026 and an innovative approach for satellite IoT connectivity are testimony to these future development prospects."