OBERKOCHEN/Germany, STUTTGART/Germany, 13.12.2017.
In the past 2016/17 fiscal year (ended 30 September 2017), ZEISS increased both its revenue and earnings to a record level: revenue rose by 10 percent to EUR 5.348 billion (prior year: EUR 4.881 billion). At EUR 770 million, earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) were significantly above the already high level of the previous year (615 million). The EBIT margin has increased to over 14 percent. Order intake grew by a healthy 12 percent and is now at EUR 5.625 billion, underscoring the growth ambitions of the technology company.
"All four segments Research & Quality Technology, Medical Technology, Vision Care/Consumer Products and Semiconductor Manufacturing Technology are either at or above their target returns and have made a positive contribution to the most successful fiscal year in the history of ZEISS," said Prof. Dr. Michael Kaschke, President & CEO of Carl Zeiss AG, at the annual press conference in Stuttgart. "This development was not and is not just a matter of course. Rather, it is the result of the tremendous efforts made by all employees and partners over a long period of time. The consistent implementation of the strategic Agenda has now made a real impact and significantly increased competitiveness. Thanks to investments in cutting-edge Innovation and Customer Centers, global partnerships and strategic expansions, we have focused entirely on the needs of our customers," said Kaschke, explaining the companys strategy.
Positive development across all segments
Revenue (in million)
2016/17 2015/16 Change
Research & Quality Technology 1,538 1,466 5%
Medical Technology* 1,427 1,290 11%
Vision Care/Consumer Products 1,108 1,089 2%
Semiconductor Manufacturing Technology 1,212 972 25%
* Not identical to Carl Zeiss Meditec AG
In the Research & Quality Technology segment, the automotive market continues to drive growth at the Industrial Metrology business group. The demand for Smart Production solutions is increasing, and ZEISS is expanding its business and key networking capabilities for the Industrial Internet of Things through innovative approaches, such as its stake in the joint venture ADAMOS. Thanks to the good overall position of industry, the Microscopy business group is continuing its growth trajectory. In spite of the enormous competition on the market, the Medical Technology segment is growing with innovations such as the ZEISS KINEVO 900 robotic visualization system and has made particularly significant gains in Asia. With ZEISS brand eyeglass lenses, the Vision Care/Consumer Products segment is growing slightly faster than the market. There has been sustained positive growth, including in Brazil and China.
The Semiconductor Manufacturing Technology (SMT) segment is benefitting from high demand for Deep Ultra Violet (DUV) lithography systems. After a trend toward stagnation in an extremely volatile market in recent years, SMT successfully increased its revenue by 25 percent, a new all-time record. The determination and perseverance of the investors in the cutting-edge technology Extreme Ultra Violet (EUV) lithography is also paying off, as is the strengthened partnership with the Dutch company ASML. ASMLs 24.9 percent minority stake in the subsidiary Carl Zeiss SMT and the accompanying investments totaling around EUR 760 million for research and development will be instrumental in driving the comprehensive preparation of EUV technology.
Financial highlights
ZEISS generates just under 90 percent of its business outside Germany. Asia/Pacific (APAC) remains the largest growth region with a revenue of EUR 1.270 billion. This corresponds to an increase of 15 percent over the previous year after currency adjustments (1.123 billion). Revenue amounted to EUR 598 million in China alone (prior year: 504 million). The revenue in emerging economies after currency adjustments has exceeded the billion euro mark, reaching EUR 1.181 billion (prior year: 995 million). The companys German sites have also benefited from the enormous growth in these markets. The largest single market for ZEISS remains the US with approximately EUR 1 billion.
In fiscal year 2016/17, ZEISS increased its investments in research and development by around 27 percent to 552 million (prior year: 436 million). Investments in property, plant and equipment were increased to 183 million (prior year: 154 million). This compared to depreciations totaling EUR 160 million (prior year: 155 million). "ZEISS's bold, global investment strategy is a key pillar of our long-term growth trajectory. Since 2010, we have spent around EUR 1.45 million on this," says Thomas Spitzenpfeil, CFO of Carl Zeiss AG.
Net liquidity has increased significantly and was at EUR 1.986 billion as of the reporting date (30 September 2016: 568 million). In particular ASMLs stake in Carl Zeiss SMT and a capital increase at Carl Zeiss Meditec AG have played a major role in strengthening liquidity. The companys equity is at EUR 3.429 billion, equaling an almost doubled equity ratio of 47 percent. Thanks to a greater inventories and increased receivables, free cash flow is at EUR 658 million (prior year: 709 million) in spite of the increased EBIT.
Employees
The number of employees increased by six percent. As of the reporting date, ZEISS had 26,945 employees worldwide (prior year: 25,433). With 569 new employees, Germany saw the strongest headcount increase. Here the total headcount rose to 11,339 (prior year: 10,770).
Outlook: "Growth requires bold decisions for the road ahead"
Even though a slight slowdown in the growth dynamic is evident in several emerging economies, the forecast for the global economy is good to very good, with only a few risk factors on the horizon. "Of course we have benefited from tailwinds from the
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...
31/08/2025
Legrand | AV, a global specialist and industry leader in audiovisual solutions, returns to CEDIA Expo 2025, taking place Sept. 4-6 in Denver, with a powerful li...
31/08/2025
Global media technology company Backlight will unveil new capabilities in its Iconik, Wildmoka, and Zype product lines at IBC2025 (booth #1.D09), September 12 1...
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...
OBERKOCHEN/Germany, STUTTGART/Germany, 13.12.2017. 
