The company has published its report for the first six months of 2018, ending June the 30th, with decreases in both gross profit and revenue.
Turbon’s revenue for the first half of this year was €40.32 million ($46.82 million), down from €48.42 million ($56.23 million) in the same period of 2017. There was also a fall in the company’s gross profit, which dipped from €9.34 million ($10.84 million) to €8.04 million ($9.33 million), compared to the equivalent period of last year.
Operating income fell too, from €1.11 million ($1.28 million) last year to €684,000 ($794,500) this year, whilst Turbon’s financial income nearly halved, from €49,000 ($56,900) in the first six months of 2017 to €24,000 ($27,800) in the opening half of 2018.
The official results do not veer too wildly from the forecasts announced in August, when it was declared that Turbon expected losses for FY2018, as part of an adjustment to its financial forecast for the year.
In its statements accompanying the financial reports, Turbon said: “A key focus of our work in the Turbon Printing segment was the first half on the reduction of financial debt to banks as well on the sustainable termination of losses in the business of laser cartridges in Europe and North America. Here, albeit with high depreciation, significant progress has been made.”
Turbon added that “the significant losses largely result from special items,” as well as “a result of the continued restructuring of the business.”
In terms of a breakdown of specific segments, Turbon’s Printing segment accounted for sales of €34.7 million ($40.3 million) in H1 of 2018, or 86 percent of total sales. However, earning before taxes were less positive, at €-2.7 million ($-3.13 million), which Turbon accounts to “losses in the business with laser cartridges.”
Reflecting on the results, the company stipulated that its work in 2018 thus far “is characterised by rebuilding and realignment of the group.”
“The production of laser cartridges was concentrated in the first half of the year on the site in Romania, the closer on the (European) market and faster on market changes to be able to react – a prerequisite for the necessary further reduction of inventories,” Turbon continued. “One consequence of this change is the drastic reduction in production activities in Thailand.”
It added that by concentrating European Logistics activities at its Hattingen site, and by placing European sales activities under the umbrella of Turbon Products GmbH, the company has “created the conditions for a return of the European business with laser cartridges to the profit zone in the course of 2019.”
Looking ahead, Turbon’s Printing segment forecast a rise in sales, albeit a slight one, from €62 million ($72 million) to €63 million ($73.1 million). The company added that for earnings before taxes, in the Printing segment it expects a loss of around €3.5 million ($4.06 million).
