SLM Solutions: Adjustment to FY 2016 forecast

• Revenue expected in a range of EUR 75 million to EUR 80 million (previously: EUR 85 million to EUR 90 million)
• Positive adjusted EBITDA margin in single-digit range anticipated (previously: above previous year)
• Rising personnel cost ratio expected (previously: below previous year)

Lübeck, December 1, 2016 – SLM Solutions Group AG, a leading supplier of metal-based additive manufacturing technology, is adjusting its original forecast for the 2016 fiscal year to reflect the changed conditions arising from the takeover negotiations during the second half of the year among other things. Full-year consolidated revenue growth will presumably not be as strong as the market’s growth. The original forecast of key management figures assumed economies of scale that cannot be realised to the targeted level in the 2016 reporting year.

Dr. Markus Rechlin, CEO of SLM Solutions Group AG, comments: “Firstly, General Electric’s takeover bid and the accompanying unsettling of markets have shifted customer projects into next year. Secondly, we see the takeover bid as a clear endorsement of the importance of our additive manufacturing technology and SLM Solutions’ outstanding positioning. For this reason, we anticipate positive effects in the medium term for our company. Good feedback from manufacturing-oriented customers about our new versions of the SLM 500HL and SLM 280HL, which we have just presented at formnext, also give us confidence in this context.”

With revenue from today’s perspective lying in a range between EUR 75 million and EUR 80 million, the Management Board of SLM Solutions Group AG expects year-on-year growth of between 13 and 21 percent. As SLM Solutions sees the effects in the second half of 2016 as temporary and anticipates further growth in the future, the company is continuing with the expansion of organisational structures in production, sales as well as research and development, a strategy it has been advancing since the IPO. Due to the lower revenue growth, the higher number of employees in the 2016 fiscal year will affect the personnel cost ratio, which is now expected to be above the previous year’s level. SLM Solutions sees this as an investment in the future: Initial training and familiarisation periods feed through to rising productivity after some delay. The cost of materials ratio is anticipated to be at the previous year’s level.

According to the Management Board’s current appraisal, the lower revenue growth and aforementioned cost effects, in interplay with discounts granted when selling off older demo machines during the first half of 2016, will lead to a reduced adjusted EBITDA margin, which is now forecast to lie in the positive single-digit range for 2016.

Uwe Bögershausen, CFO of SLM Solutions Group AG, remarks: “We will prospectively not be meeting our original expectation for the 2016 fiscal year, particularly due to the events during the second half of the year which led to a customer reticence that could not be fully reversed by the positive course of the industry fair formnext. Consequently, we are now focussing on the future: our technology has been validated by General Electric’s interest. SLM Solutions ranks among the few independent companies that concentrate on metal-based additive manufacturing, which opens up additional market opportunities and gives us an outstanding starting position for further growth in the future. We will consistently exploit the opportunities arising out of the changes on the supply side.”

ABOUT THE COMPANY:
Lübeck-based SLM Solutions Group AG is a leading provider of metal-based additive manufacturing technology. The company’s shares are traded in the Prime Standard of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. The stock has been listed in the TecDAX index since March 21, 2016. SLM Solutions focuses on the development, assembly and sale of machines and integrated system solutions in the field of selective laser melting. SLM Solutions currently employs over 310 members of staff in Germany, the USA, Singapore, Russia and China. The products are utilised worldwide by customers in particular from the aerospace, energy, healthcare and automotive industries.