Full year 2016

Another year of double-digit sales growth for Tecan - Seite 3

Financial results full-year and second half of 2016
In the second half of 2016, order entry in the Life Science Business grew strongly, however Partnering Business was affected by a large order which was shifted by a corporate customer from December 2016 to January 2017. Despite this timing effect, order entry in the second half overall increased by 2.8% in local currencies and by 3.1% in Swiss francs against a strong base in the prior-year period. For the full year, order entry increased by 6.9% in local currencies to CHF 503.2 million (2015: CHF 465.0 million), corresponding to growth of 8.2%. On an organic basis, order entry increased by 1.8% in local currencies and by 3.1% in Swiss francs. Organic development only includes contributions from acquisitions from those months in the reporting period that were already included in the consolidated financial statements in the prior-year period.

Sales in the second half rose by 12.2% in local currencies and by 12.7% in Swiss francs. This corresponds to organic sales growth of 7.3% in local currencies and 7.8% in Swiss francs. Sales in financial year 2016 increased by 13.5% in local currencies and 15.0% in Swiss francs to CHF 506.2 million (2015: CHF 440.3 million), exceeding the CHF 500 million mark for the first time in the Company's history. On an organic basis, sales grew by 8.2% in local currencies and 9.6% in Swiss francs.

Operating profit before depreciation and amortization (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization; EBITDA) rose by 6.8% to CHF 89.0 million in the fiscal year (2015: CHF 83.4 million). Including acquisition-related costs from two recent transactions and reduced margins associated with the acquisition of Sias AG, the EBITDA margin was 17.6% of sales (2015: 18.9%). By contrast, the underlying EBITDA margin, excluding acquisition-related effects, improved by 140 basis points to 19.5% of sales, thereby comfortably delivering on the margin commitment for the year of "at least 50 basis points". In 2015, the underlying EBITDA margin reached 18.1% and excludes a one-time positive net impact mainly from revised pension liabilities. The margin improvement in 2016 was driven by positive volume and price effects as well as substantial efficiency improvements in operations and in research and development.