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Investing.com -- Inficon Holding AG on Thursday lowered its full-year 2025 guidance for the second time due to significant headwinds from trade disputes, foreign exchange impacts, and temporary capacity duplication.
The company now expects an EBIT margin between 16-17%, down from the previous 18% target, and has narrowed its sales forecast to $660-680 million from $660-690 million. This revised guidance implies year-over-year growth between -2% and +1%, with the guided EBIT mid-point of $111 million sitting approximately 10% below consensus estimates.
Inficon’s profitability deteriorated further in the third quarter, with gross profit margin dropping to 43.0% (down 440 basis points year-over-year) and EBIT margin falling to 14.0% (down 630 basis points).
Management indicated that most margin impacts are temporary, relating to trade disputes, tariffs, and strategic capacity duplication, with additional pressure from unfavorable foreign exchange due to the weakening U.S. dollar.
During the third quarter, Inficon completed the reconfiguration of its global production setup to better serve customers and avoid heavy tariffs in the future.
The company’s semiconductor and vacuum coating segment showed weakness, with third-quarter sales of $77.5 million, representing a 14% year-over-year decline and 2% below second-quarter sales.
Growth in other regions was offset by weakened demand in China, where sales fell by 22.4% year-over-year or 11.1% quarter-over-quarter to $43 million (26% of group sales). Management now expects the broad semiconductor upswing to be delayed until 2026/27.
The general vacuum segment was the biggest positive surprise in the third quarter, with sales of $45.0 million (up 20% year-over-year), exceeding expectations by 10% and improving 6% compared to the second quarter. Performance was particularly strong in Asia Pacific and China.
Refrigeration, air conditioning, and automotive sales reached $35.9 million (up 9% year-over-year), ahead of expectations but slightly slower sequentially (down 1% quarter-over-quarter). Accelerated demand for service tools in North America and Asia drove growth, while the automotive and battery-related businesses developed steadily with some upswing in China.
The security and energy segment recorded sales of $5.5 million (down 52% year-over-year), below expectations due to the lack of meaningful orders from the segment’s largest client, the U.S. defense ministry. Management continues to expect sales in this segment to decline in fiscal year 2025.
Despite profitability challenges, Inficon’s book-to-bill ratio remained above 1 for the third consecutive quarter, with a substantial increase in orders across all end markets and regions.
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