Tecan reports significant growth in sales and profits in 2020 based on extraordinary demand for COVID-19 related products - Seite 2

Tecan CEO Dr. Achim von Leoprechting commented: “I’m extremely proud of the fact that Tecan played such a key part in the global response to COVID-19. This was only possible because our employees stepped up to the challenges presented by the pandemic, supporting our customers with expertise, responsiveness and exceptional dedication.

It is Tecan’s core business to automate complex lab processes. When the pandemic started to spread around the world, we were well prepared to quickly re-focus our capabilities on the fight against COVID-19 and support our customers in research, therapy and vaccine development, and to an even larger degree with the scale-up of diagnostic testing. Going forward there is a huge opportunity to build on what we have learned from the global response to COVID-19 and apply it to cancer, metabolic diseases and other infectious diseases. With our broad portfolio of existing products and new important launches we expect in 2021 and 2022, we are confident and excited to continue to scale innovation to the benefit of healthcare and the lives of people.”

Financial results full year and second half of 2020

In the year under review, Tecan recorded a surge in orders for product lines supporting the global fight against the coronavirus pandemic. Full-year order entry increased by 33.9% to CHF 855.2 million (2019: CHF 638.6 million), or by 38.5% in local currencies. After orders already grew by 24.3% in local currencies in the first half of the year, with an increase of 51.8% in local currencies order entry accelerated further in the second half. Order backlog even grew at a significantly higher rate than full-year order entry to reach a record high as of December 31, 2020.

Sales for fiscal year 2020 climbed by 14.8% to CHF 730.9 million (2019: CHF 636.8 million), corresponding to growth of 18.7% in local currencies. The growth trend accelerated in the second half of the year, with sales increasing by 23.5% in Swiss francs and 27.8% in local currencies.
Demand for pipette tips increased drastically due to the testing needs associated with COVID-19. As a result, overall recurring sales of services, consumables and reagents also increased in the full year 2020 by 26.2% in local currencies and 21.3% in Swiss francs, thus amounting to 43.6% of total sales (2019: 41.3%).

Reported operating profit before depreciation and amortization (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization; EBITDA) rose by 29.6% to CHF 159.1 million in the fiscal year 2020 (2019: CHF 122.8 million). The increase in reported EBITDA was mainly driven by benefits of scale due to the significantly higher volumes. In addition to common economies of scale, reported EBITDA benefited from an even more positive impact as the overall cost base was not yet fully adjusted to support the business on a sustainable basis. The results development was also helped by a one-time positive effect from an adjustment of the Swiss pension plan as well as increased capitalization of development costs as projects neared market launch. On the other hand, exchange rate movements in major currencies versus the Swiss franc had a negative impact on the reported EBITDA, comparable to the one-time positive effects.