AGFA reports growth in Digital Printing despite 66 million loss.

HealthCare IT:

Increase in order intake of 25%, 4.8% revenue increase

Profitability impacted by cost inflation and unfavorable mix effects

Digital Print & Chemicals:

Growth driven by Digital Printing and Zirfon membranes

Successful price increase actions and cost reductions allowed to restore profitability

Radiology Solutions:

Medical film: volume recovery in China but continuing margin pressure and geopolitical impact

Direct Radiography: continuing the positive trend in sales and profitability

Adjusted EBITDA amounted to 13 million Euro

Net loss of 66 million Euro, impacted by the loss of discontinued operations as a result of the Offset Solutions sale

Agfa-Gevaert has released commentary on its results in the first quarter of 2023.

Reporting post Offset Solutions

The recent sale of the Offset Solutions division (now rebranded to ECO3) influences the way the Agfa-Gevaert Group reports its results. The Q1 numbers from sales to EBITDA present the Agfa-Gevaert Group with Offset Solutions excluded (Asset held for Sale), but with a new division called ‘Contractor Operations & Services former Offset’ or ‘CONOPS’. CONOPS represents the supply of film and chemicals as well as a set of support services delivered by Agfa to Offset Solutions. As of Q2, this will represent the agreements with the external party ECO3. The turnover represents the supply agreements, with corresponding COGS charges. The income related to the support services will be accounted for as Other Income, while the costs related to those support services are represented in the different SG&A lines.

Q1 ‘23 reflects the financials as if the agreements are already in place. The comparative period Q1 ‘22 has been re-presented accordingly. As per IFRS 5, stranded costs related to Offset Solutions have been treated differently in 2023 vs 2022. In Q1’22 stranded costs are reported under CONOPS. In Q1 ’23 these are absorbed by the 3 business divisions.

(*)before restructuring and non-recurring items

“Early April, we took an important step in our transformation journey with the divestment of our Offset Solutions division. This transaction will allow us to focus on our growing market segments, which is crucial for our future success. Businesswise, we are very satisfied with the Q1 performance of the growth engines in our Digital Print & Chemicals division. The huge potential of our Zirfon membranes for green hydrogen production is starting to materialize, as this business’ Q1 revenue already exceeded that of the full year 2022.

However, as it is still in an industrial ramp-up and development phase, the Zirfon business is not yet contributing to the results. In the Radiology Solutions division, we saw further top line and profitability improvements for Direct Radiography. HealthCare IT saw a 25% increase in order intake. However, this division’s profit growth is influenced by a delay in order book implementation, as the increased portion of managed services implies revenue recognition over a longer period of time,” said Pascal Juéry, President and CEO of the Agfa-Gevaert Group.

Agfa-Gevaert Group

(*)before restructuring and non-recurring items

First quarter

Excluding currency effects, the Agfa-Gevaert Group posted a revenue increase of 7.3%. The growth was mainly driven by the Digital Print & Chemicals division, which benefited not only from the Inca Digital Printers acquisition, but also from price increases, strong demand for inks and for ZIRFON membranes for green hydrogen production.

HealthCare IT and Radiology Solutions also posted revenue growth.

Not taking into account the divested activities, the Group’s gross profit margin improved from 30.8% of revenue in Q1 2022 to 32.1%, mainly due to price increases and cost reduction actions.

Adjusted EBITDA improved to 13 million Euro (4.8% of revenue).

Restructuring and non-recurring items resulted in a charge of 10 million Euro, versus 8 million Euro in Q1 2022.

The net finance costs amounted to 6 million Euro.

Income tax expenses increased to 5 million Euro versus 2 million Euro in Q1 2022.

The Agfa-Gevaert Group posted a net loss of 66 million Euro, impacted by the loss of discontinued operations as a result of the Offset Solutions sale (amounting to 47 million Euro).

Financial position and cash flow

Net financial debt (including IFRS 16) evolved from a net cash position of 72 million Euro at the end of 2022 to a net cash position of 24 million Euro.

Trade working capital (CONOPS excluded) evolved from 32% of turnover at the end of 2022 to 33% in Q1. In absolute numbers, trade working capital evolved from 342 million Euro at the end of 2022 to 367 million Euro.

The Group generated a free cash flow of minus 39 million Euro.

Outlook

Overall, the Agfa-Gevaert Group expects a recovery in profitability in the full year 2023 versus 2022.

2023 outlook per division:

HealthCare IT: Whilst order intake growth continues to be very strong, the uncertainty around the timing of the order book execution and continued cost inflation could result in a weaker first half of the year, followed by a stronger second half. Therefore full year EBITDA growth versus last year could be delayed.

Radiology Solutions: Stability is expected, with continuous margin pressure for medical film. The progress in Direct Radiography that was recorded in the second half of 2022 is expected to continue.

Digital Print & Chemicals: The division expects to restore profitability, based on pricing, cost improvement actions and positive contributions from the Inca acquisition and the Zirfon membranes. The revenue generated by Zirfon will continue to grow very strongly.

HealthCare IT

(*) before restructuring and non-recurring items

First quarter

HealthCare IT’s order book remains at a healthy level. The division recorded a 25% growth in the 12 months rolling order intake versus the year before, with high value business (own software) increasing with 35%. Although the market is currently characterized by decision-making delays for large IT projects, the division signed a 7- year agreement with a U.S. integrated health network in Minnesota, Wisconsin and North Dakota with over 2.000 physicians and 1.1 million imaging studies, replacing a legacy PACS with Agfa’s Enterprise Imaging platform.

In new contracts, the portion of managed services is often substantial, which typically implies that revenue recognition is spread over a longer period of time.

Continuing the momentum that started to build in the second half of 2022, the HealthCare IT division’s top line increased by 3.6% (excluding currency effects) versus Q1 2022.

Impacted by continuous cost inflation (e.g. for hardware and personnel costs) and unfavourable product/mix effects, the division’s gross profit margin decreased from 44.9% of revenue in Q1 2022 to 41.7%. The adjusted EBITDA margin decreased from 8.0% to 4.7%.

In recent months, Agfa HealthCare’s innovation efforts and customer services were recognized by various research companies and industry experts:

Agfa HealthCare has been recognized as Best in KLAS for its Enterprise Imaging for Radiology solution in the PACS Middle East/Africa category. This achievement is a sign of Agfa HealthCare’s focus on delivering high value and support to its customers in the region.

Frost & Sullivan awarded Agfa HealthCare with the “Best Practices Customer Value Leadership Award” for 2023. This award recognizes companies for their customer-first approach, innovative leadership, providing clinical confidence with patient-centric contextual intelligence, and enabling smooth collaboration between departments and geographical locations.

Black Book Market Research awarded Agfa HealthCare the Highest Client Satisfaction Award. Black Book Market Research provides healthcare IT users and other stakeholders in the healthcare sector with client experiences, competitive analysis and purchasing trends.

The positive development of the order intake shows that the division’s strategy to target customer segments and geographies for which its Enterprise Imaging solution is best fit and to prioritize higher value revenue streams is working and delivering. This strategy will ultimately allow the division to reach the targeted growth of EBITDA: starting from a mid-single-digit percentage in 2019 to percentages in the high-teens over the next years.

Radiology Solutions

(*)  before restructuring and non-recurring items

First quarter

The medical film business continues to be influenced by the current geopolitical situation. In China, medical film volumes recovered from COVID-related issues to normal levels, but the gradual implementation of new centralized procurement practices continues to cause margin pressure. In other regions, Agfa continues to implement its pricing policy.

Agfa continues to manage the market driven top line decline of the Computed Radiography business, maintaining healthy profit margins.

The Direct Radiography business posted modest revenue growth, thus continuing the positive trend of the previous quarters. Order intake was softer in Q1, due to the geopolitical situation and the financial challenges that many customers and governments are facing.

At the ECR 2023 event in Vienna, Agfa and Lunit demonstrated the integration of the Lunit INSIGHT CXR software in Agfa’s MUSICA workstation. Thanks to this collaboration, radiographers can automatically be notified in case of life-threatening pathologies detected in chest X-rays.

The first effects of Agfa’s actions to increase the business’ agility and to better adapt it to the current market conditions (right-sizing of the organization, relocations, cost control actions, price increases, net working capital actions) became visible in Q1. Mainly driven by a strong improvement for DR, the division’s gross profit margin increased from 30.3% of revenue in Q1 2022 to 32.2%. Increased silver prices and inflationary pressure had a negative impact on the division’s profitability.

Digital Print & Chemicals

(*)  before restructuring and non-recurring items

First quarter

In the field of digital print, the top line of the sign & display business continued its strong profitable growth, based on the good performance of the ink product ranges for sign & display applications, as well as the Inca Digital Printers acquisition, as the first quarter saw the revenue recognition of the first three Agfa-branded Onset wide-format systems using Agfa inks. In the field of industrial inkjet, the décor printing business continued to feel the effects of the weak investment climate. On the other hand, volumes for OEM inks started to pick up following a slowdown towards the end of 2022.

Q1 sales figures for the Zirfon membranes for advanced alkaline electrolysis grew strongly, already exceeding the revenue that was recorded in the full year 2022. As it is still in an industrial ramp-up and development phase, this business is not yet contributing to the results of the division. Over 100 active customers are now using Zirfon membranes, thus confirming Zirfon’s status as the most efficient technology for hydrogen production via alkaline electrolysis. Several large customers are now starting to build commercial electrolyzers, which allows Agfa to generate recurring Zirfon sales. March 7, 2023, the Board of Directors validated an investment for a new industrial unit for Zirfon membranes at Agfa’s Mortsel site in Belgium. This will allow the Group to be ready for the expected further increase in customer demand. As this investment is fully in line with the EU’s ambitions to build a strong European hydrogen economy, Agfa submitted a funding proposal to the EU Innovation Fund.

The weakness in the electronics industry continued to impact volumes of the Orgacon conductive materials and the products for the production of printed circuit boards.

Successful price increase actions, cost reductions and a positive contribution of the acquired Inca business allowed the division to restore its gross profit margin from 18.7% of revenue in Q4 2022 to 31.1%. In Q1 2022, the gross profit margin was at 30.4% of revenue.

In recent months the organization of the division was also adapted and 2 new business leaders were added to the division’s management team. The organizational structure is now ready to facilitate future growth.

AGFA reports growth in Digital Printing despite 66 million loss.

HealthCare IT:

Increase in order intake of 25%, 4.8% revenue increase

Profitability impacted by cost inflation and unfavorable mix effects

Digital Print & Chemicals:

Growth driven by Digital Printing and Zirfon membranes

Successful price increase actions and cost reductions allowed to restore profitability

Radiology Solutions:

Medical film: volume recovery in China but continuing margin pressure and geopolitical impact

Direct Radiography: continuing the positive trend in sales and profitability

Adjusted EBITDA amounted to 13 million Euro

Net loss of 66 million Euro, impacted by the loss of discontinued operations as a result of the Offset Solutions sale

Agfa-Gevaert has released commentary on its results in the first quarter of 2023.

Reporting post Offset Solutions

The recent sale of the Offset Solutions division (now rebranded to ECO3) influences the way the Agfa-Gevaert Group reports its results. The Q1 numbers from sales to EBITDA present the Agfa-Gevaert Group with Offset Solutions excluded (Asset held for Sale), but with a new division called ‘Contractor Operations & Services former Offset’ or ‘CONOPS’. CONOPS represents the supply of film and chemicals as well as a set of support services delivered by Agfa to Offset Solutions. As of Q2, this will represent the agreements with the external party ECO3. The turnover represents the supply agreements, with corresponding COGS charges. The income related to the support services will be accounted for as Other Income, while the costs related to those support services are represented in the different SG&A lines.

Q1 ‘23 reflects the financials as if the agreements are already in place. The comparative period Q1 ‘22 has been re-presented accordingly. As per IFRS 5, stranded costs related to Offset Solutions have been treated differently in 2023 vs 2022. In Q1’22 stranded costs are reported under CONOPS. In Q1 ’23 these are absorbed by the 3 business divisions.

(*)before restructuring and non-recurring items

“Early April, we took an important step in our transformation journey with the divestment of our Offset Solutions division. This transaction will allow us to focus on our growing market segments, which is crucial for our future success. Businesswise, we are very satisfied with the Q1 performance of the growth engines in our Digital Print & Chemicals division. The huge potential of our Zirfon membranes for green hydrogen production is starting to materialize, as this business’ Q1 revenue already exceeded that of the full year 2022.

However, as it is still in an industrial ramp-up and development phase, the Zirfon business is not yet contributing to the results. In the Radiology Solutions division, we saw further top line and profitability improvements for Direct Radiography. HealthCare IT saw a 25% increase in order intake. However, this division’s profit growth is influenced by a delay in order book implementation, as the increased portion of managed services implies revenue recognition over a longer period of time,” said Pascal Juéry, President and CEO of the Agfa-Gevaert Group.

Agfa-Gevaert Group

(*)before restructuring and non-recurring items

First quarter

Excluding currency effects, the Agfa-Gevaert Group posted a revenue increase of 7.3%. The growth was mainly driven by the Digital Print & Chemicals division, which benefited not only from the Inca Digital Printers acquisition, but also from price increases, strong demand for inks and for ZIRFON membranes for green hydrogen production.

HealthCare IT and Radiology Solutions also posted revenue growth.

Not taking into account the divested activities, the Group’s gross profit margin improved from 30.8% of revenue in Q1 2022 to 32.1%, mainly due to price increases and cost reduction actions.

Adjusted EBITDA improved to 13 million Euro (4.8% of revenue).

Restructuring and non-recurring items resulted in a charge of 10 million Euro, versus 8 million Euro in Q1 2022.

The net finance costs amounted to 6 million Euro.

Income tax expenses increased to 5 million Euro versus 2 million Euro in Q1 2022.

The Agfa-Gevaert Group posted a net loss of 66 million Euro, impacted by the loss of discontinued operations as a result of the Offset Solutions sale (amounting to 47 million Euro).

Financial position and cash flow

Net financial debt (including IFRS 16) evolved from a net cash position of 72 million Euro at the end of 2022 to a net cash position of 24 million Euro.

Trade working capital (CONOPS excluded) evolved from 32% of turnover at the end of 2022 to 33% in Q1. In absolute numbers, trade working capital evolved from 342 million Euro at the end of 2022 to 367 million Euro.

The Group generated a free cash flow of minus 39 million Euro.

Outlook

Overall, the Agfa-Gevaert Group expects a recovery in profitability in the full year 2023 versus 2022.

2023 outlook per division:

HealthCare IT: Whilst order intake growth continues to be very strong, the uncertainty around the timing of the order book execution and continued cost inflation could result in a weaker first half of the year, followed by a stronger second half. Therefore full year EBITDA growth versus last year could be delayed.

Radiology Solutions: Stability is expected, with continuous margin pressure for medical film. The progress in Direct Radiography that was recorded in the second half of 2022 is expected to continue.

Digital Print & Chemicals: The division expects to restore profitability, based on pricing, cost improvement actions and positive contributions from the Inca acquisition and the Zirfon membranes. The revenue generated by Zirfon will continue to grow very strongly.

HealthCare IT

(*) before restructuring and non-recurring items

First quarter

HealthCare IT’s order book remains at a healthy level. The division recorded a 25% growth in the 12 months rolling order intake versus the year before, with high value business (own software) increasing with 35%. Although the market is currently characterized by decision-making delays for large IT projects, the division signed a 7- year agreement with a U.S. integrated health network in Minnesota, Wisconsin and North Dakota with over 2.000 physicians and 1.1 million imaging studies, replacing a legacy PACS with Agfa’s Enterprise Imaging platform.

In new contracts, the portion of managed services is often substantial, which typically implies that revenue recognition is spread over a longer period of time.

Continuing the momentum that started to build in the second half of 2022, the HealthCare IT division’s top line increased by 3.6% (excluding currency effects) versus Q1 2022.

Impacted by continuous cost inflation (e.g. for hardware and personnel costs) and unfavourable product/mix effects, the division’s gross profit margin decreased from 44.9% of revenue in Q1 2022 to 41.7%. The adjusted EBITDA margin decreased from 8.0% to 4.7%.

In recent months, Agfa HealthCare’s innovation efforts and customer services were recognized by various research companies and industry experts:

Agfa HealthCare has been recognized as Best in KLAS for its Enterprise Imaging for Radiology solution in the PACS Middle East/Africa category. This achievement is a sign of Agfa HealthCare’s focus on delivering high value and support to its customers in the region.

Frost & Sullivan awarded Agfa HealthCare with the “Best Practices Customer Value Leadership Award” for 2023. This award recognizes companies for their customer-first approach, innovative leadership, providing clinical confidence with patient-centric contextual intelligence, and enabling smooth collaboration between departments and geographical locations.

Black Book Market Research awarded Agfa HealthCare the Highest Client Satisfaction Award. Black Book Market Research provides healthcare IT users and other stakeholders in the healthcare sector with client experiences, competitive analysis and purchasing trends.

The positive development of the order intake shows that the division’s strategy to target customer segments and geographies for which its Enterprise Imaging solution is best fit and to prioritize higher value revenue streams is working and delivering. This strategy will ultimately allow the division to reach the targeted growth of EBITDA: starting from a mid-single-digit percentage in 2019 to percentages in the high-teens over the next years.

Radiology Solutions

(*)  before restructuring and non-recurring items

First quarter

The medical film business continues to be influenced by the current geopolitical situation. In China, medical film volumes recovered from COVID-related issues to normal levels, but the gradual implementation of new centralized procurement practices continues to cause margin pressure. In other regions, Agfa continues to implement its pricing policy.

Agfa continues to manage the market driven top line decline of the Computed Radiography business, maintaining healthy profit margins.

The Direct Radiography business posted modest revenue growth, thus continuing the positive trend of the previous quarters. Order intake was softer in Q1, due to the geopolitical situation and the financial challenges that many customers and governments are facing.

At the ECR 2023 event in Vienna, Agfa and Lunit demonstrated the integration of the Lunit INSIGHT CXR software in Agfa’s MUSICA workstation. Thanks to this collaboration, radiographers can automatically be notified in case of life-threatening pathologies detected in chest X-rays.

The first effects of Agfa’s actions to increase the business’ agility and to better adapt it to the current market conditions (right-sizing of the organization, relocations, cost control actions, price increases, net working capital actions) became visible in Q1. Mainly driven by a strong improvement for DR, the division’s gross profit margin increased from 30.3% of revenue in Q1 2022 to 32.2%. Increased silver prices and inflationary pressure had a negative impact on the division’s profitability.

Digital Print & Chemicals

(*)  before restructuring and non-recurring items

First quarter

In the field of digital print, the top line of the sign & display business continued its strong profitable growth, based on the good performance of the ink product ranges for sign & display applications, as well as the Inca Digital Printers acquisition, as the first quarter saw the revenue recognition of the first three Agfa-branded Onset wide-format systems using Agfa inks. In the field of industrial inkjet, the décor printing business continued to feel the effects of the weak investment climate. On the other hand, volumes for OEM inks started to pick up following a slowdown towards the end of 2022.

Q1 sales figures for the Zirfon membranes for advanced alkaline electrolysis grew strongly, already exceeding the revenue that was recorded in the full year 2022. As it is still in an industrial ramp-up and development phase, this business is not yet contributing to the results of the division. Over 100 active customers are now using Zirfon membranes, thus confirming Zirfon’s status as the most efficient technology for hydrogen production via alkaline electrolysis. Several large customers are now starting to build commercial electrolyzers, which allows Agfa to generate recurring Zirfon sales. March 7, 2023, the Board of Directors validated an investment for a new industrial unit for Zirfon membranes at Agfa’s Mortsel site in Belgium. This will allow the Group to be ready for the expected further increase in customer demand. As this investment is fully in line with the EU’s ambitions to build a strong European hydrogen economy, Agfa submitted a funding proposal to the EU Innovation Fund.

The weakness in the electronics industry continued to impact volumes of the Orgacon conductive materials and the products for the production of printed circuit boards.

Successful price increase actions, cost reductions and a positive contribution of the acquired Inca business allowed the division to restore its gross profit margin from 18.7% of revenue in Q4 2022 to 31.1%. In Q1 2022, the gross profit margin was at 30.4% of revenue.

In recent months the organization of the division was also adapted and 2 new business leaders were added to the division’s management team. The organizational structure is now ready to facilitate future growth.