Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Pfeiffer Vacuum conference call regarding the first 9 months results of 2022. At this time, all participants have been placed on a listen-only mode. The floor will be open for questions following the presentation. Let's now turn the floor over to Heide Erickson, Head of Investor Relations.
Thank you, and thank you very much, and also from me, a good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to our first nine months and third quarter 2022 results conference call. Our presenters today are our CEO, Dr. Britta Giesen, as well as our CFO, Benoît Guillaumin. During the call, we will reference slides which are available on our website in the Investor Relations section at group.pfeiffer-vacuum.com. As always, we are happy to answer your questions at the end of the call. With that, I would like to hand the call over to Dr. Britta Giesen. Ms. Giesen, please.
Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and also a warm welcome from my side. I'm very pleased with our performance during the last nine months for a number of reasons, as outlined on slide 3. First, our customers have shown confidence in our ability to successfully manage in a challenging high demand environment, as indicated by our high sales and order intake. Second, our teams very effectively navigated a difficult supply chain, which has been the primary limiting factor for an even more pronounced growth in 2022. Third, we are making significant progress in our strategic objectives, increasing our market share and achieving EUR 1 million in sales while driving our sustainability. We will do this by moving even closer to our customers. Before I touch on these points in more detail, let me summarize our financial results for the first nine months outlined on slide 4.
Sales reached an unprecedented high level of EUR 669 million, up 16% from the same period last year. The order intake of EUR 867 million was up 25%, with continuous strength in the third quarter. With a backlog of EUR 514 million, up 63% from year-end 2022, we achieved another record level. The EBIT margin improved year-over-year by just over 1 percentage point to 14.1%. Finally, capital spending of EUR 52 million was up EUR 30 million from the previous year as we are executing our strategic plan to drive growth. On the back of these excellent results, we again raised our sales guidance and now expect to reach sales of EUR 860 million-EUR 880 million in the full year 2022.
This represents a sales growth of approximately 11%-14%. Sales by segment for the first nine months 2022, shown on slide 6, give another perspective on how broad-based the demand is for our two segments, Semiconductor and Emerging Technologies, as well as Analytics, Industry and R&D. In the segment Semiconductor and Emerging Technologies alone, sales grew by 17% year over year to EUR 344 million. This represents 51% of our total sales. Sales in the segment Analytics, Industry and R&D also increased by a remarkable 15% to EUR 325 million year over year for the first nine months of 2022. Here, too, the demand is broad-based but particularly strong in the industrial high vacuum portion of the segment.
We currently have some very positive market dynamics with technology for the semiconductor market at a strong level and the Analytics, Industry and R&D segment generally driven by the energy transition and high-end production technologies. The sales for our products in the first nine months 2022 from a geographical perspective, as shown on slide 7, were particularly strong in the Americas. Sales to the Americas increased by 37%, reflecting the strong demand, particularly from our semiconductor customers, as well as the positive impact of the foreign exchange rate of euro to US dollar. Without this foreign exchange impact, sales in the Americas grew by approximately 22%. In Europe, sales were up 13% too, based on the high demand also from the semiconductor market. In Asia, sales were up 7%.
Please keep in mind that the year-over-year comparisons for Asia is particularly challenging in relation to the extraordinary year 2021, when year-over-year sales growth was at an outstanding level of 42%. In the first nine months of 2022, we generated 30% of our total sales in the Americas. Europe accounted for 31%, and Asia remained our largest market with 39% of total sales. Shifting now to our EBIT performance on slide eight.
The first nine months 2022 EBIT margin improved by 1.2 percentage points to 14.1% of sales, compared to 12.9% in the first nine months of 2021. This was driven by the gross profit margin, which improved to 36.4% in the first nine months of 2022, compared to 35.4% in the same period of 2021. This was the result of efficiency improvements we implemented, partially offset by higher costs related to the management of the overly stressed supply chains and by increasing general and administrative expenses. Benoît will provide additional details regarding expenses and profitability in a few minutes. I would like to make some initial comments on our supply chain and our growth investments.
Going into the third quarter, we were increasingly concerned about the stability of global supply chains, particularly as we saw first breaks in strained supply chains starting in the second quarter, 2022. The strain in the supply chains continued in the third quarter, but were less severe than expected. In addition, product lines less impacted by supply chain challenges were able to ramp up. Finally, critical electronic components arrived late in the third quarter, which allowed us to quickly finish the assembling, testing, and shipping of the already manufactured products. Overall, supply chain conditions remain stressed, but we are currently not seeing a significant rupture. One of the critical investments that we are working on is the common IT infrastructure across the entire organization. The first implementations at small units have started in the meantime.
We are carefully managing the rollout of the common SAP platform over the next five years. It is early, but so far, the implementation is going very well. This system will be essential to increase our efficiency as we serve a diverse global customer base. In the medium term, these efficiency increases will offset additional costs incurring, particularly in the current implementation phase. We also continue to invest in our global production infrastructure. Our capital expenditures for the first nine months, 2022, were EUR 52 million, up EUR 30 million from the same period last year. We are investing in expanding our global production facilities, modernizing existing buildings, and continue to buy machinery to meet the current and future demand of our customers while modernizing our production processes. Sustainability is also an integral part of our decision-making as we expand and continuously upgrade our production facilities.
We assure high energy and material efficiency to achieve our carbon neutrality targets. We use sustainable green building criteria and green building standards as part of this effort. We are implementing a software solution to measure, track, and analyze our various emissions data, such as CO2 emissions along the entire supply chain, to long-term measure and meet Scope 3 standards, and are committed to setting and achieving science-based targets in line with the Science Based Targets initiative. We pass all these benefits on to our customers, and we add value for all employees and for nature in our value chain. One of our goals is to continuously optimize sustainable management through our entire value chain, from our suppliers to our production, and the product life cycle with our customers onto recycling. Within this process, there are opportunities for further improvements in the ecological and social footprints.
In this way, we also help our customers in a wide range of industries to improve their footprints with better products and efficiency improvements. Only if we act responsibly and sustainably, we can be a reliable partner for our customers and serve them in the long term. Our vision is to be the most sustainable and fastest-growing provider in our industry, driving technology for a sustainable future. In doing so, the requirements of our customers are at the heart of everything we do. Our employees are demonstrating their engagement to pursue these goals every day. We are all committed to drive sustainability and to pursue our other strategic goals, to gain market share and achieve EUR 1 billion in sales. We are on the right track, and I am confident in the future of Pfeiffer Vacuum.
With that, I would like to hand the call over to my colleague, Benoît Guillaumin, our CFO, before I come back to discuss our outlook.
Thank you, Britta. As Britta already summarized, our nine months and third quarter results were very strong. Let me start with a more detailed review of our first nine months and then shift to the third quarter 2022 results. On slide 11, we can see that the first nine months sales were EUR 669 million, up 16% year-over-year. Britta already discussed the drivers. What I would like to add is that the foreign exchange rate, particularly the euro-U.S. dollar exchange rate, increased sales year to date by about EUR 31 million when compared to exchange rate in first nine months of 2021. This also impacted the gross profit and gross margin development.
Our gross profit margin was at 36.4%. Up from 35.4% in the previous year due to increased volume and more favorable product and market mix, partially offset by higher shipping, personnel and material expenses, as well as due to the timing of certain expenses. With the increase in inflation, material expenses continue to rise. Please keep in mind that due to average cost accounting, increased cost of new materials being delivered is not yet fully reflected in the results. Generally, today's prices are higher for the same materials compared to the average in our inventory. However, we have also increased sales prices to our customers where appropriate in order to reflect these new realities, which offset some of the material price increase.
Selling, marketing, general and administrative expenses for the first nine months of 2022 also increased by a combined EUR 80 million to EUR 125 million compared to EUR 107 million during the same period last year, due to generally higher personnel costs. In addition, IT expenses increase as we are building our global IT environment. Finally, we are now able to connect with our customers and partners face-to-face again, which increase travel and marketing expenses. As a result, EBIT for the first nine months of 2022 was EUR 94 million, up by 27% compared to the previous year. Thus, the EBIT margin for the first nine months, 2022 improved further to 14.1% compared to 12.9% for the same period in 2021.
The balance of other operating income and expenses during the first nine months of 2022 decreased by about EUR 1.3 million compared to 2021, particularly due to currency effect, partly offsetting the positive foreign exchange impact we saw in the top line development. Let me make also a few comments on third quarter 2022. As outlined on slide 12, sales in the third quarter increased sequentially from the second quarter, 2022. Year-over-year sales in the third quarter of 2022 increased by 24% compared to last year's third quarter. On slide 13, you can see that the EBIT margin in the third quarter was 14.9% compared to 14.2% in the same period in 2021. The primary drivers are the same as already mentioned in the year-to-date performance discussion. However, the timing of expenses fluctuates between quarters.
Shifting now to selected balance sheet items on slide 14. Total assets increased by 17% from year-end 2021 to EUR 826 million at the end of third quarter 2022. Inventories increased by EUR 80 million compared to year-end 2021 to EUR 242 million. The increase is particularly related to higher inventories in raw materials in addition to work in progress and finished goods inventory. The inventory development is driven by the supply chain constraint and our intention to serve our customers and be able to produce and deliver our products. Trade account receivables were up by EUR 18 million to EUR 138 million. In parallel, trade account payables increased by EUR 22 million to EUR 80 million related to the increase in purchasing volume.
Capital expenditure for the first nine months, 2022 were EUR 52 million and more than doubled compared to the EUR 23 million in capital expenditures during the same period in 2021. Our investments focused on meeting the demand from our customers today and positioning Pfeiffer Vacuum for long-term growth. This also includes moving our production and services closer to our customers. For the full year, we expect to invest well over EUR 60 million. The equity ratio remain on a strong and healthy level of 64% compared to 65% on December 31st, 2021. Despite increasing bank liabilities by EUR 40 million in total, mainly to finance the investment and the increase in working capital, Pfeiffer Vacuum has no net debt from a financial liability perspective.
Cash and cash equivalents decreased by EUR 28 million from year-end 2021 to EUR 71 million, reflecting various developments, including the dividend payout, increased inventory, higher capital expenditures, and the bank loan taken out. Pfeiffer Vacuum is in a solid financial position to meet the high demand from our customers today and to position the company for long-term sustainable growth. The opportunities are there, and I'm confident in our ability to execute well. Thank you for your attention. Britta Giesen will now guide you through the outlook and make some final comments. Britta?
Thank you, Benoît. Let's have a look at our order position on slide 16. As you know, orders can fluctuate significantly from quarter to quarter. In the third quarter of this year, the order intake reached EUR 286 million, remaining at a historically high level similar to the previous three quarters. The demand remains broad-based across all of our markets. For the third quarter, 2022, the book-to-bill ratio was at a high level of 1.25, and we had an order backlog of EUR 514 million at the end of the quarter. Today, with the current backlog scheduled for delivery in 2022, we are optimistic about the demand side for the remainder of 2022.
However, what has created uncertainties in our Semiconductor and Emerging Technologies segment is the potential negative impact from export controls aimed at China by the U.S. government, which were announced on October 7th, 2022. U.S. government is seeking to restrict China's access to certain high-end semiconductors and chipmaking tools. While Pfeiffer Vacuum is not directly affected by these export restrictions, our OEM and semiconductor customers are, and some have indicated that they expect some impact on their sales. The degree that this may or may not impact us in the future is uncertain and subject to an analysis we are currently carrying out together with these customer groups. In addition, there's a slowdown in the end consumer demand and therefore, industry analysts expect a slowdown of capital investment in the semiconductor market in 2023.
As we have been talking to key customers over the last month, we are being told that the demand for our products continues at very high levels. In addition, certain larger semiconductor customers have publicly announced that they intend to continue to build out their facilities in order to be prepared for the next upturn. This sets us up well for 2023, but it is too early to discuss specifics. A concern for us remains the stability of the global supply chain. While our purchasing department, production and logistics teams performed again above our expectations and stresses seem to start to ease, the risk is still significant. I said at the beginning, based on the excellent results in Q3 and ongoing high demand, we raised our sales guidance for 2022.
We now expect consolidated full year 2022 sales to be in the EUR 860 million-EUR 880 million range, which represents a sales growth of approximately 11%-14% compared to consolidated full year 2021, but a sequential decline from third quarter sales. This was primarily due to the continued risk in the supply chain, but even more due to the timing of shipments. In addition, December holidays and other activities such as inventory assessments and maintenance are impacting the fourth quarter. Our expectations do not include any potential negative impact from the U.S. trade restrictions on China. It is too early to be able to make a comprehensive assessment in this regard. The EBIT margin is expected to remain unchanged from previous expectations at about 40% for the full year 2022.
As Benoît already explained, the timing of shipments, product, customer and market mix can all impact margins on a quarterly basis. As you can see, 2022 is expected to be a very strong year for us. Our customers are confident in our ability to manage successfully in a challenging high demand environment. We are navigating very challenged supply chains better than many of our peers, and we are executing on our long-term goals. This is only possible because of the commitment and focus of our employees who work every day to keep our customers at the center of everything we do. While we will have to manage challenges in the future, I'm confident in the market opportunity for Pfeiffer Vacuum and our ability to successfully execute our strategy in the ups and downs of the overall market.
Thank you very much for your attention, and we are now pleased to take your questions.
Ladies and gentlemen, if you would like to ask a question, please press nine and star on your telephone keypad. In case you wish to withdraw your question, please press nine and star again. Please press nine and star now to register for a question. First up is Adrian Pehl from Stifel Financial Corp. Over to you.
Yes. Hi, good afternoon, everyone. Thanks for taking my questions. Actually, I've got three for once. Basically, first of all, your gross profit margin in the third quarter was quite strong at 37.5%, and I was wondering whether you could share some comments on the mix in the quarter and why was it better than in Q1, Q2? The second question is a housekeeping one also on general administrative costs that saw a significant increase of 38% year-over-year. So I was wondering what is the run rate that we should factor in? Is it like close to EUR 20 million? We should also take into account for the fourth quarter, for example, and what was the background for this magnitude, this one.
Another question obviously on CapEx. Since you have increased the CapEx substantially versus last year, should you help us with the fourth quarter CapEx, actually what additional expenses we should see in the December period. Last but not least on the order backlog, and congrats to keeping orders at a very high and decent level. Is that nevertheless the peak that we should see with a backlog of EUR 540 million in Q3? Or what is your expectation? You know, what do your customers signal, as you mentioned, to see Q4 revenues coming off, and maybe that's also signaling some slowdown in the order activity. Thank you.
I'm sorry. It's the operator. We've just lost Britta Giesen. Just,
Oh, okay.
I think she'll be back in a moment.
Mm-hmm. No worries.
Maybe if you agree, I can make some comments, Adrian, regarding the development of the G&A.
Yeah, sure.
Okay. Okay.
Sure.
Because I think, you know, it's my role, you know, to answer to this question. Thanks for the question, you know, Adrian. Okay. Regarding the G&A, as you clearly mentioned, okay, we see an increase, which was something expected due to the fact that we are currently in the phases of the rollout, you know, for IT implementation. Okay.
Mm-hmm.
It's something we were expecting. It's something that normally would stay at this level. Okay, for this part. The other thing is what we explained to you is the part that we see, you know, for selling. Okay. It's not something unusual, so it's only back to normal. I would say the last year we were significantly impacted, you know, by the fact that we have the COVID restriction. We have now only a better possibility to travel again, okay. To meet the customers, which is, you know, something that we need and to come back to a normal level regarding the marketing expenses. This has a combined effect, okay, I would say to that.
It is, you know, something, you know, which is, you know, quite normal for our side. Okay. I don't know if Britta is with us. Britta? Not yet?
No, not yet.
Okay. Regarding the mix, because you asked also, you know, for the mix, okay.
Yeah.
Regarding, you know, Q3 versus Q2, what we explain, we have, first of all, you know, we have the volume impact we are seeing in the growth as comparing also to the Q2. For sure, we prepared, you know, this. We prepared this growth, and we have invest, as you mentioned previously, you know, in our fixed cost. We start to have, you know, the, I would say, the positive impact of our fixed cost. Okay. We were prepared to be able to drive this volume. As we explained, we still have, you know, and I think we are quite well positioned to achieve, you know, in the next year, the EUR 1 billion that we always mention for our strategy.
For sure, now we put, you know, the better absorption of our fixed cost, okay, which is reflecting in this development for our gross profit. Regarding also another impact that you mentioned. You see is also, you know, the foreign exchange rate impact, okay? Which is, you know, something that is significant, okay, for the first nine months. Okay? It has an impact, you know, regarding the sales for about EUR 31 million, okay, which is, you know, something that helps, okay, to have this level of gross profit. Okay.
Regarding the mix, okay, the mix is also good, okay, in this quarter and help us also to achieve this level. I hope I answer to your question.
Yeah. Can I follow up on this one before we then probably go to the other one, so maybe give a chance for Britta to join again? When you say, I mean, probably in the third quarter, there was quite a significant FX impact alone. How did that impact your EBIT result in the quarter?
It impacted positively for sure on the quarter.
Yeah. Right.
Okay. As you can imagine, nevertheless, we have also, you know, some costs, okay, which are in USD, so it has to be challenged, and it has to be balanced. Okay. It's not 100%, you know, reflected in that. But nevertheless, you know, it's positive. Okay. We do not disclose, you know, the impact regarding the EBIT development, okay. Nevertheless, you know, it's positive. Okay.
Yeah.
It helped us, you know, to achieve this level.
All right. The main question then at the end when that is the case. I mean, obviously, you're guiding for sequentially lower revenues to some degree in Q4. On the other hand, for the full year, obviously, you increased your outlook. Quite visible on the top line, but you're still saying we're gonna keep the 14% margin target unchanged. I mean, you could be on one hand, just conservative. On the other hand, given that you see more revenues, the question is a little bit, why don't you have any operating leverage on these incremental portions of sales?
We will continue, you know, to as we said, you know, if you look at our Q4 revenues, okay, we expect, you know, a little bit lower than Q3, you know, due to the fact, and it has been explained, you know, by Britta in her comments, okay. Due to the fact that we have, you know, to close for year-end, okay, for the maintenance and also, you know, for the stock count. So for the inventory count that we have to do at year-end, which is, you know, something that we do regularly. We still have, you know, some supply chain constraints.
On the other end, we need to continue our development for midterm long-term vision that we have. As I claim, and it was one of your questions, we will have to continue, you know, the rollout expenses, you know, for high key, okay? Which, you know, will with the level of revenue, you know, could impact, okay, our EBIT margins. That's the reason why today we stay in this outlook, which is, you know, the commitment that we took at the beginning of the year.
Okay, Benoît, hi, I'm sorry. We've been falling out of the call, and we're back in now. Thank you for taking over from me. If you don't mind, I'll just pick up the order backlog topic. It is very high, and our sales would be very happy if we could reduce our delivery times, which as a precondition would mean reducing our order backlog. It would not be a very negative if we could reduce it, but basically the way it looks now, we can only do that by increasing our production output, because until now, order intake has continued to be higher than sales and book-to-bill was still over one.
Mm-hmm.
If we do the math and we think we can reduce the order backlog by, I don't know, a few EUR 10 million or EUR 20 million a month, it will still take very, very long to bring it back to typical levels.
Right. I think the last question was on CapEx requirements essentially. I mean, we know that you are on investment mode, obviously still. But is it like there was substantial increase. Is it like something we should factor in going towards EUR 70 million-EUR 80 million for the full year? Or is it even accelerate? Anything trend-wise is, could be helpful for our models.
Yeah, I think Q3 was certainly a peak. We will be a bit above what we have had budgeted as CapEx, because we were able to speed up some of the investments. They're of course all going towards increasing capacity. I think Q4 should come back on the levels. Although we do foresee continuing increase of investment in the upcoming years.
Okay. Also more than you originally planned, probably. You're gonna speed up CapEx.
Yes, we are.
For 2023, 2024.
We are. We are because we're also, I mean, we've been seeing a very big wave of growth and capacity being the limiting factor. We want to get out of that situation before the next upturn.
Hopefully, doesn't wait too long actually for that now I guess. Okay. Nevertheless, one very last one, before I jump back into the queue. When you say you're gonna accelerate, that, would that be actually CapEx you are deliberately targeting towards, let's say, countries or region in Europe and U.S.? Or would you say, no, we're gonna keep investing in China?
Well, we're certainly investing in all the regions and our big Asian production site, as you know, are Korea and Vietnam.
Yeah.
They'll certainly be growing. As the typical German mid-sized company, we're skeptical about China. Yes, of course, the other regions will also see investment.
Okay. Thank you.
You're welcome.
At the moment, there are no further questions. If you have any additional questions, please press nine and star on your telephone keypad. For any additional questions, please press nine and star now. Oh, I'm sorry. There are further questions. We have Nicolas Armbruster from Kepler Cheuvreux on the line now.
Hi, good afternoon. One last quick question, I think. I just want to ask for your input cost inflation outlook for 2023 and if you're confident that these costs will be largely offset by price increases. Thank you.
Okay. I think the current situation is that we have gotten used to inflation again. Of course, our purchasing teams are fighting very hard to not have additional price increases. We have implemented price increases twice this year, and if cost continues to develop, we will continue to implement that next year, definitely.
Perfect. Thank you.
We have a follow-up question from Adrian Pehl from Stifel.
Yeah, just one, actually. Just taking the opportunity to ask another one. On the IT rollout, when I got you correctly, you mentioned something like timeframe of 5 years. I'm not quite sure actually where we stand because, you know, feeling-wise, it seems to me that this whole topic of ERP implementation is now running for quite a while. I mean, obviously, you're not a small organization on one hand. Maybe you could elaborate a little bit on, let's say, the effort that you take and actually, why does it take that long, finally?
Well, we're starting off in a very diverse environment with people being used to very different processes and very different setups. We also have a large variety of product types and product groups and customer groups, and all of that has very different requirements towards the IT systems. That has proven to be a significant challenge in the conception phase. For us, it was very important to take the time in the conception phase to ensure that we have a state-of-the-art solution once we start implementation, and implementation has now started. The template is just being tested for the first go live. Well, then basically that means now we're moving from the conceptual to the rollout phase.
Yeah, of course, we have a number of locations across the world, and it will take some time until the rollout team has made its way through all of these locations.
Okay. Basically, when I remember this correctly, but please remind me on that. Actually the former Adixen units had probably another system than Pfeiffer, and you want to align that also with Busch probably. Is that the challenge that you have, like, all different organizations where you have to streamline the whole landscape?
Yeah. You can go through the list of acquisitions since 2010, and that gives you the number of different IT systems that we operate.
Okay.
It's not only Adixen and Pfeiffer, it's also Nor-Cal and ATC and Trinos and everything that we acquired on the way is running on different systems. Yes, that makes it very complex. Of course, the Busch situation is different. They had a common but very basic system. The challenge was more to move from very basic to advanced. That is really the overall complexity of that project. Yeah, you're right.
Okay. Got it. Thank you.
There are no further questions.
Thank you. Agreed. I would thank you all for participating in our call. If you come up with additional questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to Heide Eriksson, our Head of Investor Relations. For now, have a good day, and please stay healthy. Bye-bye.