Singulus withdraws 2016, 2017 forecasts after major contract delays

German machinery maker Singulus Technologies AG (ETR:SNG) on Wednesday withdrew its forecasts for 2016 and 2017.

The reason is that major parts of the sales and earnings related to an EUR-110-million (EUR 123.2m) order for solar module production equipment will be delayed to after the turn of 2016 and into 2017 as the contract was signed later than previously expected.

"Therefore, the prevailing forecasts for the two business years 2016 and 2017 are thus most likely not attainable in their current form as of today’s perspective and is withdrawn with immediate effect by the company," the company said.

The hefty order is from a unit of state-owned China National Building Materials Company (HKG:3323), or CNBM, and is for copper indium gallium (di)selenide (CIGS) thin-film module equipment. It was only unveiled on May 24, with an announcement that the contract has been concluded on May 30.

For this year, Singulus, which is in a process of restructuring, had projected sales between EUR 115 million and EUR 130 million, negative EBIT in the EUR 2 million-EUR 6 million range and "balanced to slightly positive" EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation). EBIT was seen moving into slightly positive territory in 2017.

(EUR 1.0 = USD 1.120)

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