OBERKOCHEN/Germany, 07.05.2015.
The ZEISS Group has concluded the first six months of fiscal year 2014/15 (ended 31 March) with a slight increase in revenue which rose by six percent (like-for-like*: one percent) over the previous year to EUR 2.206 billion (first six months of 2013/14: EUR 2.074 billion). At EUR 191 million, earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) are more than EUR 25 million above the previous year. Adjusted for special effects such as currency influences, EBIT lies approximately ten million euros (minus six percent) below last years figure (first six months of 2013/14: EUR 166 million).
"The favorable currency influences gave us additional momentum. However, if we use the same exchange rates as last year, we have not reached our own ambitious goals," says Dr. Michael Kaschke, President and CEO of Carl Zeiss AG, putting the good figures for the first half of 2014/15 into perspective.
Different developments in the business groups
In the business with semiconductor manufacturing technology, ZEISS is reporting a decline in revenue due to the cyclical downturn in demand on the semiconductor market. In total, this decrease is offset by the solid trend in the direct business transacted by ZEISS. This includes the business with measuring technology, microscopes, medical technology, vision care and consumer optics.
Revenue (in EUR million)
Business Groups 1sthalf of 2014/15 Change Change (like for like*)
Industrial Metrology 301 11% 5%
Microscopy 343 9% 3%
Medical Technology
(Not identical to Carl Zeiss Meditec AG) 573 12% 4%
Vision Care 403 5% - 1%
Consumer Optics 86 2% - 1%
Semiconductor Manufacturing Technology 481 - 4% - 5%
* Adjusted for special effects such as currency influences.
"To safeguard our leading position despite increasing competitive pressure, we must step up the pace of our organic growth and considerably improve our cost position," says Kaschke, assessing the earnings trend reported by the business groups. "Following its recent implementation in the Vision Care business group, we will intensify or initiate the Compete competitiveness improvement programs in large areas of the company." In addition, targeted acquisitions are currently being assessed.
Financial highlights of the ZEISS Group
ZEISS generates just under 90 percent of its revenue outside Germany, most of which is focused on the EMEA region (Europe, Middle East and Africa). In the first half of 2014/15 revenue in this area totaled EUR 739 million two percent more than last year (EUR 711 million) on a like-for-like basis. In Germany revenue amounted to EUR 268 million, almost five percent above the previous years figure (EUR 256 million).
Expenditure on research and development in the first half totaled EUR 221 million, around five percent more than in the comparable period last year (first six months of 2013/14: EUR 211 million). This figure includes the investments in EUV lithography, the future-oriented technology for the production of microchips.
During the reporting period ZEISS invested EUR 58 million in property, plant and equipment, nine million less than the prior year (first six months of 2013/14: EUR 67 million). These investments compare to depreciations totaling EUR 74 million (first six months of 2013/14: EUR 71 million).
On 31 March 2015 net liquidity amounted to EUR 288 million, over 100 million more than the figure posted at the end of fiscal year 2013/14 (30 September 2014: EUR 187 million).
Free cash flow totaled EUR 165 million (first six months of 2013/14: EUR 101 million). At EUR 1.092 billion, the companys equity decreased by around 13 percent over the year-end figure for fiscal 2013/14 (30 September 2014: EUR 1.249 billion). "The drop in equity and the decrease in the equity ratio to 20 percent despite the almost three-digit figure reported for consolidated earnings is the direct result of the disproportionately large increase in pension provisions due to the continuing low level of interest rates," says Chief Financial Officer Thomas Spitzenpfeil.
Headcount
On 31 March 2015 ZEISS had a global workforce of 25,287 people, roughly two percent more than last year (31 March 2014: 24,791). This increase is solely attributable to short-term recruitment in the Vision Care business group in order to meet the increase in demand for eyeglass lenses in some markets. Headcount in all other areas of the company is showing a stable or slightly downward trend.
Outlook: Overall stable development in fiscal year 2014/15
"ZEISS is a technology leader in many sectors and makes major investments in research and development. We have ambitious goals and aim to further expand this leading position," Kaschke emphasizes. "With our current growth momentum we will not achieve these goals. This is partly attributable to the delayed introduction of the future-oriented EUV technology for the mass production of microchips. ZEISS operates in future-oriented, dynamic markets. A high degree of agility is needed to leverage the potential that they offer," Kaschke stresses. "Here we must become even more dynamic and flexible. This also means that we must substantially improve our cost structures, productivity and efficiency in all areas of the company."
For the second half of fiscal year 2014/15, ZEISS expects moderate growth in the global economy with regional variations. "For the current fiscal year assuming no change in the currency scenario we expect a stable development in revenue and a slightly downward development in the EBIT margin. This underscores the need for the measures and projects that have now been initiated," says Kaschke.
J rg Nitschke
Group Spokesman
Carl Zeiss AG
Phone: 49 7364 20-3242
Fax:
joerg.nitschke@zeiss.com
About ZEISS
ZEISS is an internationally leading technology enterprise operating in the optics and opt
Most recent headlines
06/10/2025
France T l visions, France's leading broadcaster, has received the 2025 EBU ...
04/09/2025
Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE), in collaboration with Dalet, has been a...
30/08/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has adopted its FY 2025 Regulatory Fees Order that establishes the regulatory fee rates for the broadcast stati...
29/08/2025
Australian Red Cross and SBS launch training to help workplaces in the fight aga...
29/08/2025
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sp...
29/08/2025
L3Harris Technologies has concentrated decades of expertise across the entire enterprise to develop affordable and reliable best-of-breed solutions to rapidly c...
29/08/2025
BURBANK, Calif. The CW Network and the Pac-12 Conference have announced a new media rights deal that will extend their broadcast partnership beginning with the ...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK Gracenote has released a new analysis of its global video dataset showing that the number of FAST channels grew nearly 14% from Q1 2025 and 76% since 2...
29/08/2025
SAN JOSE, Calif. Harmonic has announced a series of improvements to its live sports streaming solution that the company said will improve fan engagement, protec...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK and LOS ANGELES Fox Corp. and YouTube TV last night announced a renewal of the full portfolio of Fox networks, including Fox News Channel, Fox Business...
29/08/2025
Budapest, Hungary, August 2025 - The integration of Microsoft Teams Rooms (MTR) with Lightware's Taurus universal matrix switchers delivers a new level of f...
29/08/2025
Frequency, the engine behind many of the world's best-known streaming television channels, today announced it will launch Studio Live, a next-generation uni...
29/08/2025
In an era when AI and cyber resilience are essential, Scality will mark the 10th anniversary of Scality Day on October 16, 2025 in Paris. This flagship global e...
29/08/2025
Disguise's In-House Creative and Technical Teams Pre-Visualised, Programmed and Delivered Content for the Experience, All Powered by EX 3+
Technology solu...
29/08/2025
Disguise will be demonstrating the latest workflows for TV, film and live events on a number of partner booths at the show
Disguise, the industry-leading tech...
29/08/2025
STOCKHOLM, Sweden Accedo will showcase Accedo Compose, its AI agent-powered modular orchestration layer that assists streaming providers in transitioning client...
29/08/2025
LOS ANGELES Cineverse has announced that it is working with Xperi to bring four of its streaming channels to automobiles for the first time as part of the DTS A...
29/08/2025
DALLAS & ATLANTA Gray Media has announced an agreement with the sports streaming service Victory+ to simulcast 17 Dallas Stars NHL games in 15 television market...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK AND CULVER CITY Comcast NBCUniversal and Amazon have announced new and extended distribution agreements that will expand the content available on their...
29/08/2025
FOOTHILL RANCH, Calif. RED Digital Cinema will feature its Cine-Broadcast Module supporting live broadcast workflows during IBC2025, Sept. 12-15, at the RAI Ams...
29/08/2025
29 Aug 2025
Kyivstar Rings Opening Bell at Nasdaq Marking Landmark Listing and ...
29/08/2025
More than half of all NFL games live on Sky for the first timeFriday 29 August 2025
Sky Sports has announced a new three-year deal with the NFL, extending its ...
29/08/2025
Back to All News
RIV4LRIES: The Trailer of the New Series With Samuele Carrino ...
29/08/2025
Get ready for an inspiring and emotional insight into the world of competitive Irish dancing with My Story: Tomi Champion of the World airing on RT 2 this monda...
29/08/2025
RT has today announced that David McCullagh is to be the new presenter of RT Radio 1's flagship Today programme, which airs every weekday at 10am, replaci...
28/08/2025
By Kristin Feeley, Director, Documentary Film & Artist Programs
If you want to tell untold stories, if you want to give voice to the voiceless, you've got ...
28/08/2025
Directed by Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert, Sundance Institute-supported Amer...
28/08/2025
Corridos have been a cornerstone of M sica Mexicana for generations, telling stories rooted in everyday life. Now, a new chapter is taking shape: motivational c...
28/08/2025
Los corridos han sido un pilar de la M sica Mexicana durante generaciones, contando historias enraizadas en la vida cotidiana. Ahora, un nuevo cap tulo est tom...
28/08/2025
Earlier this month, we promised our Verano Forever party would bring the heat, a...
28/08/2025
L3Harris will provide the Polish F-16V fleet with the Viper Shield electronic warfare system as part of an upgrade program....
28/08/2025
Bilbao, August 26, 2025 - AgileTV, an international television and video technol...
28/08/2025
Ken Wilkinson is an Emmy Awards nominated New York audio engineer who specialises in production sound mixing for film, commercial, episodic and documentary work...
28/08/2025
NEW YORK FuboTV today announced that it will launch Fubo Sports, a skinny bundle that focuses on sports with a subscription price of $56 monthly....
28/08/2025
NEVADA City, Calif. At IBC2025, Sept. 12-15 at the RAI Amsterdam, Telestream will debut its new Global Ingest strategy, introducing a next-generation ingest arc...
28/08/2025
Dr. Rhoda Bernard Releases Groundbreaking Debut Book on Accessible Arts Educatio...
28/08/2025
TAG Video Systems, the leader in software-based IP end-to-end workflow monitoring, deep probing, and real-time visualization, has named Oliver Gappa as Sales Di...
28/08/2025
AI-based voice enhancement will be among a series of innovations making their IBC 2025 debut on the DHD stand B46 in Hall 8 at the RAI Amsterdam Convention Cent...
28/08/2025
Telef nica Servicios Audiovisuales (TSA), the leading system integrator and service provider in the media sector in Spain, with the support of Appear, the globa...
28/08/2025
To fully immerse sailing fans in the world's biggest offshore yacht race, production company, Optical Media turned to LiveU's On-site Production solutio...
28/08/2025
Working with Calrec on its most recent overhaul, radio and television broadcaster, WNED has migrated to a fully IP infrastructure with multiple Type R consoles,...
28/08/2025
Cleeng, the Subscriber Retention Management (SRM ) inventor, has unveiled Cleeng Pro, the first-ever direct-to-consumer (D2C) subscription management platform t...
28/08/2025
Zixi, the industry leader in live broadcast-quality video over IP, today announced that French media distribution platform OKAST has selected Zixi to enable rel...
28/08/2025
Solution offers a streamlined, speaker-free architecture to optimize integration with premium external loudspeakers and advanced loudness metering
Nixer Pro Au...
28/08/2025
Cinegy, the premier provider of software-defined television technology, has announced a strategic partnership with Vision One Touch Film Production Services L.L...
28/08/2025
Telestream, a global leader in media workflow technologies, will debut its new Global Ingest strategy at IBC2025, introducing a next-generation ingest architect...
28/08/2025
Tier 1 operator selects Broadpeak to power high-performance, unified CDN solution across Norway, Sweden and Finland
Broadpeak, a leader in streaming and moneti...
28/08/2025
Leading video software provider, Synamedia, today announced that 24 Frames Digital, one of India's leading live event streaming service providers, has chose...
28/08/2025
Meet VisualOn at IBC2025: See What's Next in AI-Powered Video Streaming Join VisualOn at IBC2025 and discover how our AI-driven Optimizer and advanced media...
OBERKOCHEN/Germany, 07.05.2015. 
