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Investing.com -- SUSS has reduced its 2025 margin guidance for the second time this year following weaker-than-expected third-quarter results. The company now targets a gross margin of 35-37% and an EBIT margin of 11-13%, down from previous targets of 37-39% and 13-15% respectively.
Despite the margin cuts, SUSS maintained its full-year 2025 sales guidance of €470-510 million.
The company’s shares fell 21% on the news.
Preliminary results for the third quarter showed a gross margin of 33.1%, approximately 5 percentage points below consensus estimates. The EBIT margin came in at 10.5%, missing expectations by 2 percentage points.
Revenue performed better at €118 million, representing 15% year-over-year growth and exceeding expectations by 4-5%. However, this volume strength was offset by weaker margins, confirming mix and cost challenges.
Several factors contributed to the disappointing results, including a weaker product mix with lower-margin photomask tools for TSMC and higher output of projection scanners that had unexpectedly high production costs. The company also experienced softer shipments of bonders, which historically carried above-average margins.
Dual-site costs remain a significant burden as SUSS continues to operate both its old and new Zhubei facilities through year-end. Operating expenses increased to €26.5 million in Q3, up from €22.7 million in the same period last year.
Order intake declined to €70 million, representing a 17% year-over-year decrease and falling below analyst expectations of €85 million from KECH and €83 million from CSS. The book-to-bill ratio dropped to 0.6x.
Kepler commented: "SUSS’s second profit warning in a row mainly reflects a weak product mix, especially the loss of high-margin bonder sales that had supported last year’s results, alongside temporarily higher opex."
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