French 3D printing company Prodways Group achieved a solid end to the year 2021, marked by the good performance of all its activities and major orders for machines and materials. Sustained revenue growth in Q4 (up 17% to €20.2 million) enabled the company to post annual growth of +23.7%, thus exceeding the +20% target communicated last September. Total revenue for the Prodways FY 2021 was €70.8 million, of which €44 million from systems and €26.9 million from services.
This performance is the combined result of good momentum in Machines & Materials sales, particularly in the dental sector, with +16% in the fourth quarter 2021. This was strengthened by the favorable direction of the on-demand 3D printing service: +24% organic growth and +55% including the acquisition of Creabis in Germany. The Products division’s medical activities also grew 5%, particularly driven by audiology, which is experiencing good momentum despite medical appointments being disrupted by the sanitary context.
Systems division
During the Prodways FY 2021 period, the Group won two landmark industrial projects in the orthodontic field. The two customers, a world leader in the distribution of medical and dental products, based in the United States, and the Australian leader in clear aligners, chose the MovingLight technology after several months of evaluation and comparison with competing solutions. These two customers have ordered 12 printers to date to equip their production sites, which will consume the PLASTCure Absolute Aligner liquid resin developed by Prodways teams. These machines could consume up to 17 tons of resin per year in production rate.
The future development phases planned by these two players could lead them to increase the size of their installed base over the next 18 months, representing a potential additional order of a dozen printers. Thanks to its good positioning in the field of orthodontics, revenues from Machines & Materials linked to this application have thus progressed by almost 45% in 2021 compared to the year 2020, demonstrating the strength of the business model of this activity with sales of machines that generate recurrent sales of materials for several years. Good orientation of the Software activity Revenues generated by the integration of 3D modeling software rose by +10% in the fourth quarter, the largest quarter of the year in this segment. This activity is continuing its development relying on its highly diversified customer base, the good renewal rate among its existing customers and the quality of its teams, which is enabling Prodways to gain market shares in France. 3
Products division
On-demand 3D printing service revenues were up +55%, including +24% organic growth. The increased 3D printing fleet, thanks to the acquisition of Creabis in Germany, enabled Prodways to boost its revenue growth to +55% in the fourth quarter 2021. The company now has one of the largest printing fleets in Europe, offering its customers increased production capacity, a wide range of technologies and greater responsiveness. On a like-for-like basis, revenues increased by +24% compared with Q4 2020 with an improved level of activity at the end of 2021. Medical activities: +5% growth in Q4 2021 The activities of production of medical devices on demand (audiology, podiatry and dental) posted growth of +5% this quarter, despite disruptions in medical appointments and impression taking due to the health context.
The audiology business was a significant driver with growth of +12% in Q4, enabling it to achieve annual revenues of close to €10 million (+32% compared to 2020). This sector is benefiting from three structurally positive trends: the penetration of digital solutions in the impression taking and manufacturing stages, the importance given to the prevention of noise-related risks and finally the full reimbursement of hearing aids by the French social security system. Outlook and guidance 2022 Thanks to the positive trend in all of its activities, Prodways Group intends to pursue steady revenue growth in the coming years. In the short term, for the year 2022, the group has set itself the objective of increasing its revenues by between +5% and +10%. This performance should be amplified by external growth operations.
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Author: Davide Sher
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