Business

Prodways raises guidance after seeing record-breaking sales in H1 2022

French 3D printer manufacturer and service provider Prodways Group (PWG) has reported a 22% rise in its revenue during H1 2022. 

Over the first half of the year, Prodways brought in €41.6 million, €7.5 million more than the €34.1 million it generated in H1 2021. While this growth slowed in the second quarter, overall, the firm saw record-breaking machine, material and software sales across H1 2022, driven by the increased size of its install base. With this in mind, the company now anticipates achieving FY 2022 revenue growth of 15%. 

“Thanks to the recognition of the quality of its 3D printers, combined with dedicated materials, the group is gaining momentum in industrial production applications,” said Prodways in a statement. “Sales efforts are bearing fruit across all activities, resulting in partnerships with new, well-known customers who are leaders in their sectors.”

An engineer using a Prodways ProMaker P1000 3D printer. Photo via Prodways.
An engineer using a Prodways ProMaker P1000 3D printer. Photo via Prodways.

Prodways’ H1 2022 financials 

Late last year, Prodways was spun-off by Groupe Gorgé, and it has reported its financial results separately ever since, although it continues to do so under the same divisions as before: Systems and Products. While both these segments showed strong growth in H1 2022, Systems remained the firm’s biggest earner, bringing in €26.6 million, a 23% rise on the €21.6 million reported in H1 2021. 

According to Prodways, this growth was driven by its “ever-widening base of recurring revenues,” which contributed to its record-breaking machine sales in the period. As well as selling six more 3D printers to dental clients, the company also saw some major accounts adopt its technologies in other areas of their businesses, thus improving its commercial prospects in industrial production settings. 

On the Products side of its business, Prodways generated €15.3 million in H1 2022, 21.3% more than it managed to bring in during H1 2021. The firm says that it saw a “ramp-up in industrial production” with its machines over the period. This in turn, drove material sales, with its PLASTCure Absolute Aligner resin proving particularly popular with dental users, achieving its entire FY 2019 revenue in H1 alone. 

Organically, however, the division only grew 3.1% from H1 2021 to 2022, due to Prodways’ acquisition of Creabis, which boosted the income of its on-demand production business. The company’s revenue also dipped quarter-on-quarter by 16.7% in H1 2022, but its Q2 2021 figures were partially-skewed by the lifting of many lockdown measures, which saw its medical revenue rise 50% over the period. 

Financials (€) Q1 2022Q2 2022Difference (%) H1 2021H1 2022Difference (%) 
Systems15.5m11.1m-28.421.6m26.6m+23
Products 7.3m7.9m+9.612.6m15.3m+21.3
Revenue22.7m18.9m-16.734.1m41.6m+21.9

Charting Prodways’ sales successes

As you’d expect from Prodways, a firm whose MovingLight Digital Light Projection (DLP) 3D printers are designed to facilitate the rapid production of dental models, it continued to grow this area of its business in H1. In December 2021, the firm signed a deal with US and Australian clientele that saw it supply twelve of the systems in its largest ever dental printing project, and they’ve since bought six more. 

Prodways also agreed a new distribution deal with Dental Axess in June 2022. When it was announced, the company said the agreement would allow it to reinforce its presence in North America and Europe, while establishing a foothold in the Australian market. Although Prodways made the move late in H1 2022, it says the deal should “broaden its access to major players” in the dental industry in future.

Elsewhere, in medical, the firm says it continued to “support the development” of long-term clients like the Straumann Group in H1 2022, which it supplies with 3D printing resins for clinical applications. Prodways’ audiology offering also performed strongly, with hearing protection sales up more than 30%, and its activities there are now set to be bolstered by its recent acquisition of Auditech Innovations.

Lastly, the company says its digital manufacturing offering has carried on the “positive momentum” it has seen since late-2021, achieving 8% organic growth in H1 2022. In addition to its Creabis acquisition, Prodways attributes this increase to a rise in the average size of orders from industrial clients, and a jump in the number of users adopting its services for cost and design-efficient mold 3D printing. 

A batch of Prodways 3D printed dental aligners.
A batch of Prodways 3D printed dental aligners.

Raising revenue expectations for H2 2022

Following a strong start to the year, Prodways has raised its guidance from its previous forecast of “around 10% growth,” to an increase of “around 15%,” including the revenue of its acquisitions. The firm also says “control over costs and supply chain management, despite the tense global environment,” has enabled it to achieve higher profitability than last year and target growth opportunities. 

“The sound financial health of Prodways, has enabled the company to pursue its external growth strategy,” Prodways added in its statement. “In a supportive market environment for the digitalization of industrial and medical activities and the search for more responsible production methods, all of the company’s signals are well oriented for the future.”

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Featured image shows an engineer using a Prodways ProMaker P1000 3D printer. Photo via Prodways.