ZEISS Announce Record Revenue For Latest Fiscal Year of 10 Billion
The ZEISS Group was able to continue its dynamic revenue growth with a growth rate at the very high level of the prior year. In fiscal year 2022/23 (reporting date: 30 September 2023), revenue rose to over 10 billion euros for the first time in the company’s history (prior year: 8.8 billion euros, up 15%). Earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) were also up on the previous year at 1.7 billion euros (prior year:1.6 billion euros). All four segments of the ZEISS Group contributed to this growth despite the challenging market environment.
“We can look back on another very successful fiscal year. To be able to continue on this dynamic growth path in the future, we need to set the right course now. We are doing this by investing huge sums in our further development”, said Dr. Karl Lamprecht, President and CEO of ZEISS. “Our success is based on our distinctive innovative strength. To ensure this continues, we have invested 15% of revenue in research and development, personnel development and infrastructure – more than ever before.”
All four ZEISS segments are contributing to growth and the market environment, which can be difficult at times, affects them all in very different ways.
The Semiconductor Manufacturing Technology segment once again achieved an exceptionally high revenue rate despite natural fluctuations in the semiconductor technology market. The overall business from segments from lithographic optics to photomasks, has developed positively. The high demand for lithography systems for deep ultraviolet (DUV) and extreme ultraviolet (EUV) as well as the first delivery of the optical system for High-NA technology to our customer and strategic partner ASML contributed to growth. In the future, the next EUV generation, High-NA EUV, will enable the production of more powerful and more energy-efficient chips at lower cost.
The Industrial Quality & Research segment also achieved significant double-digit growth. The increasing momentum in both strategic business areas, industrial quality assurance and the microscopy systems business contributed to this. The strong trend from the first half of the year reasserted itself in the area of industrial quality assurance. The diversified portfolio (coordinate measuring machines, optical solutions and software) contributed to the overall success. Growth is expected in the coming fiscal year as a result of forward-looking projects in energy technology and electromobility. Business from microscopy systems for research and science benefited from positive impetus from the pharmaceutical industry and government funding for research in the field of life sciences, among other things.
The ZEISS Medical Technology segment also achieved a significant double-digit increase in revenue in fiscal year 2022/23 and increased its market share. In addition, the stabilization of supply chains, particularly in the second half of the fiscal year, and accelerated deliveries in the areas of ophthalmology and microsurgery made a positive contribution to revenue growth. In the EMEA and AMERICAS regions, revenue growth rates were in the double digits. Revenue in APAC showed a very positive development. Strategic investments and the continued structural optimization of the segment are expected to lay the foundation for further growth in the upcoming fiscal year.
The Consumer Markets segment also closed fiscal year 2022/23 with good revenue growth. High inflation and the associated uncertainty among consumers have affected the market environment and consumer climate and caused a reluctance to spend. In the strategic Vision Care segment, growth was achieved through innovations in branded ophthalmic lenses and eye health as well as the expansion of the digital consumer journey. Growth stimuli came in particular from the APAC and EMEA regions. In Consumer Products, the subdued mood among retailers and consumers as well as price competition had an impact on the result. The strike during film productions in Hollywood over several months affected the cine lens business. ZEISS technologies for smartphone photography have nevertheless increased in popularity. There are slightly positive signals for the coming fiscal year, for example through innovations, additional market development and expansion of the product portfolio for movie and camera lenses, sports and nature observation optics.
Business Segment Development
All regions contributed to the growth in revenue although APAC demonstrated the most dynamic growth. This region generated significant growth in revenue at 11%. The AMERICAS and EMEA regions also recorded revenue growth and once again contributed to the positive development of ZEISS.
ZEISS is bigger than ever with around 43,000 employees. The ZEISS Group employed 42,992 employees worldwide at the reporting date of 30 September 2023 (prior year: 38,770 employees). The number of employees therefore increased as of 30 September 2022 by around 11% year on year.
“ZEISS is bigger than ever and continues to grow. As such, almost 18,000 new employees have joined the company in the past seven years alone”, said Lamprecht. “We are expanding our capacity and therefore investing around 3.5 billion euros over the next five years in infrastructure – more than ever before. A large proportion of this will flow into infrastructure projects specifically in Germany, such as the further expansion of the Oberkochen site, a new site in Aalen-Ebnat or the site of the company’s foundation in Jena.”
The ZEISS Group continues to rely on its distinctive innovative strength. At 15% of revenue, ZEISS spent a record sum of 1,545 million euros on research and development in the past fiscal year (prior year: 1,151 million euros). In the ZEISS Group’s research and development departments, more than 6,200 employees work every day to further expand the company’s investment power. This is reflected in the number of patents retained which totaled around 11,300 worldwide as of the reporting date.
For more information: www.zeiss.com
