LETTER TO
SHAREHOLDERS
THE EXECUTIVE BOARD
Dear shareholders of the SINGULUS TECHNOLOGIES AG, dear Ladies
and Gentlemen!
In 2018 our company continued to gain momentum and completed the
business year on a positive note. SINGULUS TECHNOLOGIES recorded
significant growth in the key work areas. This holds especially true for the
Solar division. It was also particularly pleasing to see that the work areas
Semiconductor, Decorative Coatings as well as Medical Technology made
a contribution to this development. Sales and the operating result (EBIT)
continued to improve pursuant to our forecast. Sales were increased by
more than 39 %. The net profit amount to EUR 6.8 million. Therefore, the
forecast for the business year 2018 was completely achieved
Profitable growth
In the Solar segment we were once again very successful in the business year 2018. In a globally
expanding energy market we see promising growth potential here for our company in the next
couple of years. In addition, we were also able to position ourselves very well in the market
with our products and respective orders in the Semiconductor division and the new work areas
Decorative Coatings as well as Medical Technology.
The solar market will remain the most important market for SINGULUS TECHNOLOGIES in
the medium-term. In the course of the climate discussion during the COP24, the annual
conference of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), a report was
published in November 2018 explaining the feasibility of a European climate change based
on 100 % renewable energy sources. The new scientific study shows that a transition towards
100 % renewable energies would be economically competitive compared with today’s conventional, fossil-nuclear system and that green house gas emissions could be reduced
to zero even before 2050. In this scenario, solar energy would provide the biggest share with
62 % of the energy generation. In fact, photovoltaics today is already the most cost-efficient
technology for electricity generation in the world and a sharp increase in the expansion of
solar power capacities are recorded worldwide.
Against this background we rely on the ever increasing deployment of renewable energies
with a focus on photovoltaics. We are confident for the future and we are on a path to further
increase the market leadership for CIGS production machines. In addition to the already
pending projects, we were able to sign several letters-of-intent (LOI) in November 2018 for
the delivery of production machines for the manufacturing of CIGS thin-film solar modules
were signed with the customer China National Building Materials, Beijing, China (CNBM). The
production and delivery of the machines are mainly scheduled for the years 2019 and 2020.
In the area of highly efficient, crystalline solar cells, e.g. based on the heterojunction technology
(HJT), we are working on the introduction of additional, new machines concepts for the solar
market and also see great potential here for our company in the future.
In 2018, SINGULUS TECHNOLOGIES received an order for the construction of a complex
TIMARIS vacuum coating machine from a leading European manufacturer of semiconductor
production machines. We see this as a confirmation for the productivity of our machines as
well as for the potential in the semiconductor market.
The future of our company
Our company is mainly focused on the five sales markets solar, semiconductor, medical
technology, consumer goods, and optical disc. Here, we focus on the sectors vacuum coating
technology, wet-chemical processes, surface technology as well as thermal processing
technology. SINGULUS TECHNOLOGIES' strategy is to take advantage of the existing know-how
and to gain market share in existing markets as well as to transition this expertise to other
markets and to win new customers.
In the past couple of years we have developed innovative machines concepts for the photovoltaic
sector and for the new work areas decoration coatings as well as medical technology and
subsequently introduced these machines to the market. In 2018, we received an order from
the automotive sector for a complete production line of the DECOLINE II type for the finishing
of three-dimensional plastic parts of car interiors. In medical technology we had received a
first order exceeding EUR 10 million for the sale of processing machines for the treatment
of contact lenses. At the beginning of June 2018, a follow-up order for such equipment was
already received. For the business year 2019 we are expecting further sales success for these
new production machines.
We intend to win new customer for the existing sales market and to increase our market
shares here as well as to expand to new markets on the basis of our technologic know-how.
The extensive marketing of our existing as well as of the new production systems should for
the basis for a stable growth path.
We will consistently continue this entered path towards a product and market diversification
with new machines types on the basis of our core competencies with a simultaneous expansion
of market shares in the developed work areas in the coming years.
For the business year 2019 SINGULUS TECHNOLOGIES forecasts an increase in sales and
earnings for the Group compared with the previous business year 2018. Based on the full-year
forecast, the company expects sales in the business year 2019 to be significantly higher than
in the prior year and the operating result to also improve further. The key sales and earnings
drivers will continue to originate from the Solar division and here from large project orders for
investment in CIGS production lines. We still expect that the new work areas will also make
positive sales and earnings contributions in the business year 2019.
At this point, we would like to cordially thank our employees for the continuing efforts and
their personal commitment.
Our gratitude also extends to our customers and suppliers for the productive, long-term and
trustful cooperation as well as to our shareholders for their trust in our company.
Kahl am Main, March 2019
Best regards,
SINGULUS TECHNOLOGIES AG
Dr.-Ing. Stefan Rinck
Chief Executive Officer, CEO
Dipl.-Oec. Markus Ehret
Chief Financial Officer, CFO