The coronavirus pandemic has negatively impacted the sales of INFICON in the first half of 2020 when compared with the previous year. By the second quarter, the measurement technology company with a manufacturing facility in Balzers was already reporting an improvement in sales on the previous quarter. A significant plus was posted in semiconductor business for the first half-year.

According to a press release from INFICON, the international measurement technology company generated sales of US$188.8 million in the first half of 2020. When compared with the previous year, this equates to a decline of 1.8 percent. Sales of US$96.2 million were reported for the second quarter, which is 3.9 percent up on the first quarter.
“Clearly double-digit increases in the market Semi & Vacuum Coating [...] kept group sales on track” in both time periods, INFICON explains in its press release. When compared with the first half of 2019, the growth of 18.8 percent in semiconductor business almost offset the falls in the other three business areas at INFICON. In the reporting period, 50.9 percent of INFICON’s sales were generated by Semiconductor & Vacuum Coating.
The second largest business area is end market General Vacuum, where sales in the second quarter of 2020 were US$23.3 million and therefore down 12.6 percent on the prior quarter. Sales in the Refrigeration, Air Conditioning & Automotive segment decreased by 16.5 percent on the final quarter of 2020 to US$16.7 million. Security & Energy posted a sales slump of 22.9 percent to US$2.7 million.
For the first half of the year, INFICON recorded operating income of US$30 million, which is US$2.5 million less than in the first six months of 2019. At US$24.3 million, half-year profit is close to US$24.6 million achieved in the prior year. The margin was therefore improved by 0.1 percentage points to 12.9 percent.

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