SON, THE NETHERLANDS – Neways Electronics International reported third quarter net revenue up 5.5% to €132.9 million year-over-year.

Third quarter growth was driven by continuing strong demand from the automotive sector, mainly in the market for e-mobility solutions. Revenue from the semiconductor and medical sectors remained stable, while Neways saw a slight increase in revenue from the industrial sector.

Orders declined 10.7% compared to the third quarter of 2018. At the end of September, the order book stood at €319.4 million, an increase of 7.4% compared to the end of the same month last year, largely due to strong demand from the automotive sector for system solutions for electric cars.

For the first nine months of the year, Neways posted net revenue increased 6.5% to €397.4 million.

The book-to-bill ratio for third quarter was 0.76, compared to 0.98 in the third quarter last year. For the first nine months of 2019, the book-to-bill was 1.04, compared to 1.09 in the same period of 2018.

“In the third quarter, our turnover increased driven by continued strong demand from the automotive sector,” said CEO Huub van der Vrande. “This growth was softened by a temporary dip in the demand from the semiconductor sector. The order book is still at a high level. While the order intake did decline, this was largely due to the fact that more accurate orders were submitted. Customers have noted an increase in our delivery performance over the past few months, which has improved the quality and solidity of our order book. We are working hard to restore the imbalance within the group that had arisen earlier this year and to improve the structure and standardization of our internal processes, so we can respond more effectively to changes in demand. These adjustments will take time and have an impact on productivity in this phase of the process. In September, we started an accelerated reduction of our flexible workforce by a total of around 120 employees at those facilities in the group where deemed possible. As long as the macroeconomic situation does not lead to more volatility and the expected year-end demand effect materializes, we anticipate a higher turnover for 2019 and the result in the second half of 2019 to come in at around the same level as in the first half year.”