Both Basler and Stemmer Imaging have posted strong revenue results for 2021, with sales for both companies up by 26 per cent on 2020.
Basler’s sales were €214.7 million in the 2021 financial year, while Stemmer Imaging’s revenue was €130.1 million.
Both reported challenging conditions for procuring components, especially bottlenecks in semiconductor component supplies, which impacted growth. Basler’s incoming orders for last year increased by 78 per cent to €322.5 million, while Stemmer’s order intake was up 42.4 per cent on 2020 at €162.1 million. Stemmer Imaging said that ‘measures in procurement and warehousing were able to ease supply shortages.’
The German mechanical engineering industry association, the VDMA, reported a 17 per cent increase in sales and a 28 per cent increase in incoming orders for the German market for 2021.
The demand for machine vision was also evident in Cognex’s 2021 financial report, with its revenue exceeding $1 billion for the first time.
Basler said that challenges in procuring semiconductor components are expected to remain the limiting factor for growth in 2022. However, Basler predicts 2022 sales within a corridor of €235m to €265m, which would result in a pre-tax return between 9 to 12 per cent.
Basler said that ‘the basis of this assessment is an ongoing strong investment cycle associated with slight improvements in the supply chains. The relatively broad corridor reflects the current momentum in the sales and procurement markets, as well as the integration of the recently acquired distribution partners in Korea.’
Stemmer Imaging said that its revenue and earnings forecast is based on current corporate planning and ‘the assumption that the supply chain situation will ease in the second half of 2022 at the earliest, and that any cost increases can be countered with price increases.’
It added: ‘The continuing supply bottlenecks, the massive increase in energy prices and further pandemic developments are difficult to assess. The ongoing war against Ukraine has once again significantly aggravated the situation, even though the company is not directly dependent on customers and suppliers in this region.’
Having said this, Stemmer Imaging expects above-average growth of at least 10 per cent at the lower end of the forecast, and, thanks to the high order backlog, growth of up to 20 per cent is considered possible.
Stemmer Imaging puts consolidated revenue in the range of €143m to €156m.
Basler’s earnings before taxes increased by 37 per cent in 2021 to €28.0 million; the pre-tax margin amounted to 13.0 per cent. Stemmer Imaging’s EBITDA increased to €17.4 million for 2021, 141.6 per cent above the previous year's level.
Stemmer recorded significant increases in both the sports and entertainment sectors in 2021, as well as in the industrial sector, such as e-mobility.
