voxeljet’s Positive Outlook Starts to Come to Fruition in Q2 Financial Report

Earlier this year, the Friedburg, Germany-based industrial 3D printing company voxeljet AG jumped to defend their lackluster first quarter financial report, sticking with a positive outlook despite a weak start to the year. The company has definitely been working expansively to get an upswing in their revenue, bringing their VX4000 industrial 3D printer to North America back in April, while a recent partnership with automation company Art Abastecedora Industrial S. de R.L. de C.V. (ART) will help them integrate into the automotive market in Mexico. Ultimately, despite their first quarter revenue decrease, which alone is enough to make any shareholder a skeptic, voxeljet seemed to be correct when they said that better days were yet to come.

The 2016 second quarter financial report paints a much more successful picture than the first, with the word “increase” suddenly popping up more than its antithetical “decrease”. For starters, voxeljet saw their total revenue increase a respectable 14.8% to kEUR 6,296 from the kEUR 5,484 posted during the same period last year. This is even more impressive in light of their first quarter revenue, which decreased to kEUR 4,870 earlier this year.

Most of this revenue increase came from their Systems segment, which focuses on the development, production and sale of their large-format 3D printers. This sector increased a whopping 97.4% to kEUR 3,815 in the 2016 second quarter from kEUR 1,933 in last year’s second quarter. According to the company’s financial report, they sold a total of six 3D printers during the quarter, double the amount from last year’s Q2. All together, the segment made up 60.6% of their total revenue this quarter, a major reason for the upswing across the board.

Dr. Ingo Ederer, CEO of voxeljet

“We are in the middle of executing on our Vision 2020 and we are making good progress. Our subsidiaries perform well and we start to take advantage of our global reach, although the ramp up is delayed. Our new production facility and research center at our headquarters in Friedberg are beginning to take shape. Regarding general business, we continue to operate in a complex economic environment with lower than anticipated customer adoption rates. With cash and short-term financial assets of around kEUR 28,000 at the end of the quarter, we are well prepared to execute on our Vision 2020 and to deliver long-term value to our shareholders,” said Dr. Ingo Ederer, CEO of voxeljet.

Revenue isn’t the only thing that saw a proportionate increase this quarter; voxeljet also posted a gross margin of 36.6% compared to 33.5% during the prior year. Although their Systems revenues helped carry them back upwards, their Services segment revenue decreased 30.1% in to kEUR 2,481 from kEUR 3,551, though the company attributes this to the lower revenue contribution of their subsidiary voxeljet UK Ltd. As far as gross profit goes, the numbers seem to tell a similar story to their revenue.

Their Systems segment showed a gross profit increase to kEUR 1,112 from kEUR 632 in the second quarter of 2015, although gross profit margin decreased due to their new process implemented into three of the six printers sold this quarter. Their Services segment continued to hold them back, with a gross profit decrease of kEUR 1,191 from kEUR 1,202. Interestingly enough, the gross profit margin for this segment increased 48% in the second quarter, as their entities in Germany and North America helped to offset the lackluster results from voxeljet UK.

The voxeljet US facility in Canton, MI

In addition, voxeljet also showed a decrease in their selling expenses (kEUR 1,265 for the second quarter of 2016 compared to kEUR 1,743 in 2015), as well as their research and development expenses (kEUR 1,049 in the second quarter of 2016 from kEUR 1,417), which was primarily due to cancelled development activities from their UK-based entity. Administrative expenses took a slight uptick to kEUR 1,106 compared to the kEUR 1,097 from last year’s results.

This quarter was also the first to include their recently consolidated accounts with their Chinese subsidiary in the city of Suzhou. All in all, these second quarter numbers look much better for voxeljet and their shareholders, who must have been anxious upon seeing the results from the first quarter. Still, despite the increase in revenue, voxeljet seems to be hedging their bits a bit for the future, as they lowered their full year 2016 guidance of revenues from between kEUR 28,000 and kEUR 30,000 to kEUR 24,000 and kEUR 25,000. Despite this, it’s hard to deny that the German 3D printing company didn’t make progress this quarter, so we’ll chalk this Q2 up as a win for voxeljet AG. Discuss further over in the voxeljet Q2 2016 forum at 3DPB.com.