German 3D printer manufacturer voxeljet has announced a revenue decline of more than 12 percent in its full-year 2020 financial results.
Despite returning to annual growth in Q3, the company’s performance took a dip towards the end of the year, with both its Q4 and FY 2020 results posting revenue decreases. For the three months ending December 31 2020, voxeljet generated €8.9 million in revenue, down 7.2 percent from €9.6 million in same period in 2019. For FY 2020, the firm’s annual revenue decreased by 12.3 percent to €21.6 million, compared to €24.6 million in FY 2019.
Voxeljet had anticipated a more difficult Q4 than initially expected, having lowered its revenue guidance for the quarter in its Q3 financial results to between €8 million and €10 million. Since publishing its results, the company’s shares have dipped 13.4 percent from $15.01 to $13.
“2020 was a transformational year for us and we are grateful for the continued support from our clients, investors and the European Investment Bank during the Covid-19 pandemic,” said Dr. Ingo Ederer, CEO of voxeljet.
“We moved to NASDAQ mid-2020 and were able to collect additional orders for our new high-speed 3D printer VJET X towards the end of 2020. We developed key IP for our High Speed Sintering technology, which allows us to build larger polymer sintering platforms than any other player in the industry.”
Voxeljet’s Q4 financial results
Voxeljet is a manufacturer of high-speed sintering (HSS) and binder jet 3D printers, and uses these technologies to provide manufacturing services within Germany, the US, UK, China, and India. The company reports its revenue under two segments: Systems and Services.
Voxeljet’s Systems segment includes the development, production, and sale of its 3D printers, and generated €6.7 million revenue in Q4 2020, down eight percent from the €7.3 million reported in Q4 2019. The company sold six new and two used and refurbished 3D printers during Q4 2020, compared to six new and five used and refurbished machines delivered in the same period in 2019. According to voxeljet, the decline in revenue for its Systems segment is largely due to lower numbers of printer sales as a result of reduced market demand thanks to Covid-19.
However, the decline was offset slightly by revenue generated from the segment’s consumables, spare parts, and maintenance activities, which recorded a small increase in revenue during the quarter compared to that observed in the same period in 2019.
Meanwhile, voxeljet’s Services segment, which focuses on the printing of on-demand parts for the company’s customers, also saw a slight decrease of five percent to €2.2 million in Q4 2020, down from €2.3 million in Q4 2019. The company largely attributed the decline to a “significant decrease” in revenue contributed by its voxeljet America subsidiary as a result of a sharp drop in market demand from its North American customers. Revenue contributions from the firm’s service center in China also declined slightly due to Covid-19, and voxeljet received no further revenue contribution from its UK service center after closing it in a restructuring operation at the end of 2019.
Despite a weak start to 2020, the company’s German subsidiary experienced a “considerable market recovery” from the second half of the year onwards, reporting revenue increases for Q4 compared to the same period in 2019.
| Revenue (€) | Q4 2020 | Q4 2019 | Variance (%) | FY 2020 | FY 2019 | Variance (%) |
| Systems | 6.7M | 7.3M | -8 | 12.6M | 13.5M | -6.7 |
| Services | 2.6M | 2.3M | -5 | 9M | 11.1M | -19.2 |
| Total revenue | 8.9M | 9.6M | -7.2 | 21.6M | 24.6M | -12.3 |
Voxeljet’s FY 2020 financial results
The company has reported a 12.3 percent decline in revenue for FY 2020 to €21.6 million, compared to €24.6 million in the prior year period.
Voxeljet’s Systems segment generated €12.6 million in revenue during 2020, dipping from €13.5 million in 2019, as a result of lower 3D printer sales. The company sold eight new and five used and refurbished printers during the year, compared to thirteen new and six used machines in 2019. Despite the lower volume of sales, voxeljet sold more larger-scale, and ultimately more expensive, printers in 2020 compared to 2019 which meant revenue for the segment only declined slightly.
The company’s Systems-related activities also perceptibly decreased in 2020 compared to the previous year due to limits on service visits around the world due to the pandemic, meaning the company struggled to fulfill its maintenance and installation visits. The demand for consumables and spare parts appeared to recover in Q3 of 2020, however, with the positive trend continuing for the remainder of the year.
Voxeljet’s Services segment also reported a decline in revenue for FY 2020, down from €11.1 million in 2019 to €9 million. Again, the company cited lower revenue contributions from its American subsidiary as the main factor in the revenue decrease, as a result of the effects of Covid-19. The trend observed in Q4 regarding contributions from voxeljet’s other subsidiaries was also reflected in the firm’s full-year financial results.
The company also reported a backlog of around nine 3D printer orders worth €6.8 million, a significant increase on the €2.8 million backlog it had at the end of 2019. However, with development and production lead times of voxeljet’s printers ranging from three to nine months, it remains yet to be seen how much of the backlog will be converted to revenue over the course of 2021.
Looking ahead to 2021
Voxeljet’s revenue guidance for Q1 2021 is projected to land between €3.8 and €4 million, with the financial results of the quarter expected to be released on or around May 13, 2021.
For FY 2021, the company expects to generate revenue in the range of €22.5 and €27.5 million, as it begins to translate its backlog of orders into revenue throughout the year. The company is lowering its R&D spending from €6.5 million to between €6 and €6.25 million in order to mitigate some of the revenue losses incurred due to the pandemic.
Voxeljet also carried out two registered direct offerings in January and February this year in order to increase its capital, raising $10 million and $12 million respectively.
2020 saw a surge of public interest in binder jetting technologies, after the announcement of metal 3D printing company Desktop Metal’s initial public offering (IPO) in August, and the subsequent doubling of 3D printer sales by ExOne, which also manufacturers binder jetting machines.
“What really differentiates us from other players in the 3D printing industry is our focus on additive manufacturing solutions for industrial mass production,” added Ederer. “I would estimate that with the current portfolio, our share in sales to manufacturing is already higher than any of our competitors. I expect this to grow further significantly with VJET X and the new High Speed Sintering printer.”
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Featured image shows Voxeljet is planning a commercial release for its VX1000 system (pictured) in 2021. Photo via voxeljet.
