Melexis Q1 2019 results - First quarter sales of 116.5 million EUR

Intermediate declaration by the Board of Directors
Ieper, Belgium - April 23rd, 2019, 07.00 am CET

Sales for the first quarter of 2019 were 116.5 million EUR, a decrease of 16% compared to the same quarter of the previous year and a decrease of 18% compared to the previous quarter.
The EUR/USD exchange rate evolution had a positive impact on sales of 3% compared to the same quarter of last year and no impact compared to the previous quarter.
The gross result was 46.8 million EUR or 40.1% of sales, a decrease of 26% compared to the same quarter of last year and a decrease of 27% compared to the previous quarter.
R&D expenses were 17.0% of sales, G&A was at 6.5% of sales and Selling was at 3.1% of sales. The operating result was 15.7 million EUR or 13.5% of sales, a decrease of 54% compared to the same quarter of last year and a decrease of 51% compared to the previous quarter.
The net result was 13.9 million EUR or 0.35 EUR per share, a decrease of 52% compared to 28.8 million EUR or 0.71 EUR per share in the first quarter of 2018 and a decrease of 51% compared to the previous quarter.

Outlook
Melexis expects sales in the second quarter of 2019 to be in the range of 117-123 million EUR, with a gross profit margin around 41% and an operating margin around 14% at the midpoint of the sales guidance. Melexis expects its full year 2019 sales level to remain below the previous year. Gross profit margin is expected to be in the range of 41-43% taking into account a EUR/USD exchange rate of 1.13.

Business comment - Françoise Chombar, CEO:
“Melexis announces first quarter results in line with our guidance provided in February. Sales are impacted as anticipated by inventory corrections of customers, triggered by the continued uncertain economic and geopolitical situation caused by global trade tensions. Inventory corrections are ongoing and visibility remains low. With global car sales in the first quarter of 2019 below the 2018 level and trade tensions persisting, it is uncertain at which moment a change in the order behavior of our customers will occur.

Based on our current order book, we guide for a small sequential sales increase and profit margin expansion in the second quarter, while our full year sales and gross margin guidance reflects the uncertainty about the timing of an improvement in the second half of the year.

Amidst this uncertainty, Melexis continues to launch innovative products to its customers. In the first quarter, Melexis introduced a new version of its popular far infrared thermal sensor array, a single-chip automotive grade VGA Time-of-Flight (ToF) image sensor for applications such as in-car and exterior monitoring, a PCB-less Hall-effect latch for seat motor positioning in automotive applications and a new member of the third generation Triaxis® Hall sensor.

Sales to automotive customers represented 92% of total sales in the first quarter of 2019. The portion of standard product (ASSPs) sales represented 64% of total sales in the first quarter of 2019. ”

Financial calendar

Dividend pay date: 26 April 2019 (ex coupon on April 24th, 2019)
Publication Q2/HY1 2019 Results: 31 July 2019
Publication Q3 2019 Results: 23 October 2019
Publication FY 2019 Results: 5 February 2020

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