Interim Report January—September 2012

INVESTMENT IN THE FUTURE CONTINUES IN A TEMPORARY DOWNTURN

Nine Months

• Order intake was 1,024.1 MSEK (1,063.7)
• Net sales were 1,026.6 MSEK (1,072.4)
• Operating profit was 80.8 MSEK (121.2)
• Profit after tax was 36.1 MSEK (84.0)
• Earnings per share were 1.78 SEK (4.28)

Third Quarter

• Order intake was 299.7 MSEK (332.3)
• Net sales were 337.4 MSEK (342.5)
• Operating profit was 28.8 MSEK (39.5)
• Profit after tax was 15.3 MSEK (26.5)
• Earnings per share were 0.78 SEK (1.37)

  
COMMENTS FROM FREDRIK JÖNSSON, CEO

“Beijer Electronics’ sales and profits were lower in the third quarter than in the corresponding period of 2011.The euro crisis continued to feature in the period, creating major uncertainty on the market, which affected demand negatively in most of the sectors that Beijer Electronics addresses. Simultaneously, the nascent recovery in Asia faltered, with markets there returning to restrained demand. However, sales in the US continued to progress positively, but overall, the group’s three business areas were affected by the poor market.

The weaker demand is simultaneous with Beijer Electronics’ extensive sales and product development initiatives. These expenses are hard to fend off in the short term, without hurting the group in the long term. Shutting the initiatives down would cause crucial delays. We think it is best for the group’s long-term progress for our initiatives to continue as planned and thus extend our product range and address more customer segments.

The Automation business area increased profits in the third quarter despite somewhat lower sales. A weaker market in Sweden was partly offset by stronger progress in Norway. The sharper sales focus of recent years has resulted in more leads, although increased economic uncertainty does mean a longer time to decisions and deals.

The group’s new HMI range has been well received on the Nordic market and offers substantial future potential. In the fourth quarter, the business area continued its launch of a broader-based, Beijer Electronics-branded product range.

The HMI Products business area was affected by further deterioration of demand in the third quarter. First and foremost, the Asian market progressed negatively after a recovery earlier in the year. The market in Europe also remained highly restrained, while the US performed positively. In the year, this business area launched its new global product family, and it will take some time before results feed through to order intake and sales. Lower sales and large-scale marketing and product initiatives have resulted in lower profits. But despite this, HMI Products is posting good operating margins.

The IDC business area had a drop in order intake and sales to the business area’s major OEM customers in the third quarter. Primarily, the European market has been poor, while progress in the US was distinctly positive. In Asia, IDC has been successful making some breakthroughs in China, but generally, the region is making irregular progress. Overall, the business area has increased order intake by 5.5% year to date in a weak market.

IDC’s product development initiatives continued with undiminished pace. In combination with lower sales, this resulted in lower profits and operating margin than the corresponding quarter of 2011, although this was a very robust period.

At present, we see no signs of the group’s demand improving for the rest of the year. This means that the full year 2012 will be somewhat of a middling year in terms of sales and profits. However, in the medium term, we expect the market to recover and this year’s market and product development initiatives mean that Beijer Electronics has sharpened its international competitiveness.”
  

INVITATION TO CONFERENCE CALL

Today a conference call will be held for press and analysts where President and CEO Fredrik Jönsson and CFO Anna Belfrage present the company and comment on the report.

Time:  Thursday October 25 at 10.30 a.m. CET

To participate in the conference please dial:
From Sweden:+46 (0) 856636352
From UK:+44 (0)2071086205

To access the presentation please use this link:
https://www.anywhereconference.com/?Conference=108276452&PIN=942429

  
The interim report and the presentation will be available at Beijer Electronics’ website www.beijergroup.com under Investors/Presentations. A recording of the conference call will also be available here after the event.

Welcome!

For more information please contact:

President and CEO, Fredrik Jönsson, tel 46 (0)40 35 86 10, mobile 46 (0)705 17 16 26  
CFO, Anna Belfrage, tel 46 (0)40 35 86 53, mobile 46 (0)706 35 86 53

Beijer Electronics is a fast growing technology company with extensive experience of industrial automation and robust data communication. The company develops and markets competitive products and solutions with focus on the user. Since its start-up in 1981, Beijer Electronics has evolved into a multinational group with offices in 21 countries and sales of 1.4 billion SEK in 2011. Beijer Electronics is listed on the NASDAQ OMX Nordic Exchange Stockholm’s Small Cap list under the ticker BELE. www.beijerelectronics.se

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