Highlights of the first quarter of 2016

Combitech reinforces its position within self-driving cars and leads or participates in several large projects in Western Sweden – for example Born to Drive and Autopilot Mining. Combitech has also been appointed Core Partner in Vehicle ICT Arena, an open environment for innovation and skills support within vehicle IT conducted by Lindholmen Science Park.

• In Norway, we have won a framework agreement, as part of an alliance, with Statoil within Risk Management, engineering services and technical documentation. The agreement is valid for eight years.
• Combitech was named as a Karriärföretag 2016. The award is given to Sweden’s 100 most exciting employers every year. It is organised by Jobtip and points awarded in an employee engagement survey constitute one of the criteria used in the selection process.
• Combitech has developed an STCC racing car body for PWR Racing. The new car has been named the SEAT Leon STCC and was designed by SEAT’s design department and developed by engineers from Combitech’s development centre in Trollhättan.
• The number of employees now stands at 1,440. Due to increased demand, Combitech has a great need to recruit in 2016, primarily engineers within system development, product development and information security. 

We are now seeing a large demand in the market, mostly in Sweden, which has increased our position. This, together with the streamlining process we carried out last year, has contributed to increased earnings and higher margins.

Hans Torin, Acting CEO at Combitech.

Key figures January - March 2016

Order situation

Order intake in the first quarter was SEK 569 million, an increase of 28 per cent from the SEK 445 million we achieved last year. The order intake remains stable.

Sales revenues

Sales revenues amounted to SEK 433 million, an increase compared to the same period in 2015. The proportion of sales outside the SAAB group is 54 (56) per cent.

Earnings and margin

Operating profit (EBIT) was SEK 41 million, an increase compared to the same period in 2015 (SEK 33 million). The operating margin was 9.5 per cent compared to 7.7 per cent in 2015.  The higher operating margin is primarily due to better utilisation rate compared to the previous year and increased earnings in the Norwegian business. 

Operating cash flow

The operating cash flow was SEK 41 million, which is an improvement compared to the first quarter in 2015 (SEK 28 million). The improvement is due to an increased earning capacity.