Fourth quarter net sales amounted to EUR 10.1 million, a decrease of 6% from EUR 10.8 million during the same quarter 2021. Operating result for the quarter amounted to EUR 0.7 million, compared with EUR 1.2 for the comparison period. Orders received during the last quarter of 2022 amounted to EUR 4.8 million, a decrease of 58% from EUR 11.5 million in 4Q21.

Looking at the full year performance however, the picture looks a lot different. Net sales for the full year amounted to EUR 39.1 million, an increase of 18% from EUR 33.2 million in 2021. Operating result for 2022 was EUR 4.5 million, compared with EUR 2.2 million the year before. Orders received during the year was EUR 27.4 million, a decrease of 13% from EUR 31.3 million in 2021.

“2022 was the best financial year in the history of Aspocomp in its current form. Full year net sales grew by 18 percent to EUR 39.1 million. However, in the last quarter of the year, net sales decreased by 6 percent compared to the previous year after a few individual customer orders were pushed back to the current fiscal year,” says President and CEO Mikko Montonen in a press release.

△Mikko Montonen,President and CEO

The CEO continues to explain that the flattening of the demand for information and communication technology equipment, which was strongly accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic, is slowing down the cycle of the semiconductor industry.

“The temporary slowdown in the cycle is typical for the industry. Now it also involves an increase in inventory levels in different parts of the supply chain, mainly due to availability problems. The development of Aspocomp’s net sales in the last quarter reflected the decline in the semiconductor industry’s strong demand at the end of 2022. The industry’s long-term growth prospects are still strong. We expect inventory levels to normalize, investment to pick up and the cycle to turn upward again in the second half of 2023.”

Despite the slowdown of the cycle in the last quarter, Aspocomp’s Semiconductor Industry customer segment’s full-year net sales grew by 158 percent. And as expected, the Automotive customer segment’s sales decreased during the last quarter compared to the same period period of the year before, when customers increased their inventory levels.

Aspocomp says that it gained dozens of new customers during the year, especially in the Security, Defense and Aerospace customer segment. Order cycles are typically longer in this segment, so the company expect net sales growth to materialise with at a slower pace.

“Inflation and interest rates, the risk of recession and the uncertainties posed by the Russian war of aggression affect the operating environment of the company and its customers in the financial year 2023. The cycle of the Semiconductor Industry segment is expected to return to growth in the second half of the year. We estimate that Aspocomp’s net sales for 2023 will increase from 2022 and its operating result for 2023 will be at the same level as in 2022. In 2022, net sales amounted to EUR 39.1 million and the operating result to EUR 4.5 million,” the CEO concludes.