Barco “hits” the first half 2018

Barco ends a H1 2018 under the banner of growth – especially with ClickShare – and investments.
EBITDA margin expanded 1.0 percentage point on the strength of gross profit margin improvements and lower operating expenses while the company continued to invest in its growth platforms. Each of the divisions posted higher EBITDA margins. In Enterprise continued strong growth of ClickShare was offset by lower Control Rooms’ sales due to soft demand in the rear projection cube market. Healthcare generated strong order intake reflecting continued strengthening of its market position in both the diagnostic and surgical segments. In Entertainment, Venues & Hospitality produced higher sales year-over-year for the third consecutive semester which partially offset lower Cinema sales, mainly in China.
“Barco’s first semester performance demonstrates the progress we are making toward our stated goal of building a stronger foundation that supports improved quality of earnings. We’re pleased with the progress and we continue our strong focus on realizing further business- and cost- efficiencies, while investing in innovative solutions and go-to-market strategies as we advance towards our mid- term objective of achieving an EBITDA margin in the range of 12% to 14% by 2020,” says the Ceo Jan De Witte.
Barco continued to execute on its ‘focus to perform’ program and to advance its key growth initiatives. The company sold X2O Media; opened its factory for the future in Belgium; and, started the relocation of manufacturing activities from Norway to Belgium. In parallel, Cinionic, Barco’s new Cinema venture, was commercially launched during the first half and signed its first renewal contracts; UniSee, the new LCD-based videowall, completed its first 50 installations with reference accounts around the world; and Healthcare opened its local R&D and manufacturing center in Suzhou, China, under its ‘In China for China’ program, aimed at more effectively penetrating the Chinese Healthcare market.
Given the performance for the first half of the year – and assuming a stable global economic environment and currencies at current levels – management reaffirms its full year outlook which calls for further margin improvement.
Read the H1 2018 report.
www.barco.com