Technology company TRUMPF has reported an increase in 2018 sales of 6%, from €3.6 to €3.8 billion.
However, orders dropped to €3.7 billion from €3.8 billion, a decrease of around 3%, the company said.
‘The economic situation has deteriorated,’ said Nicola Leibinger-Kammüller, CEO of TRUMPF. ‘This is clearly reflected in our order intake, at both the machine tools and laser technology divisions. Only a few business areas, such as EUV [extreme ultraviolet radiation] or electronics, remain the exception at the moment.’
The company said that the decline in order intake was due to in the ongoing trade dispute between China and the US, the uncertainties surrounding Brexit, the structural changes in the automotive industry and the economic slowdown in China.
This story uses material from TRUMPF, with editorial changes made by Materials Today. The views expressed in this article do not necessarily represent those of Elsevier.
