GARCHING (dpa-AFX) - Chip supplier Suess Microtec got off to a buoyant start in the new year. Sales rose by 11 percent to around 70 million euros in the first quarter, as the SDax-listed manufacturer of equipment and process solutions for the semiconductor industry announced in Garching on Thursday. The driver here was the photomask business. In the Advanced Backend Solutions division, which includes lithography, earnings were down. Incoming orders fell by around 15 percent to 99.6 million euros. Compared to the previous quarter, however, Suess Microtec was able to make gains here.

The order backlog at the end of March was approximately 373 million euros. Due to the high order backlog and the high capacity utilization, new orders received this year could not be delivered and realized in sales until 2024 for the most part, it said. Earnings before interest and taxes (Ebit) increased by around 38 percent to EUR 2.9 million, with the corresponding margin rising from 3.3 to 4.1 percent. After taxes, Suess Microtec earned 2.1 million euros, half more than in the previous year.

For 2023, the company continues to expect sales to increase to between 320 and 360 million euros, which would mean an increase of 13.7 percent in the middle of the range. The Ebit margin is expected to be 10 to 12 percent./nas/zb