e2v sees orders shift from defense to commercial

14 Oct 2011

Space applications in Korea and Brazil help to boost UK company's high-performance imaging business.

e2v Technologies, which makes high-performance semiconductor products for imaging and other applications, says that it is seeing a shift in demand, away from European defense activity and towards commercial and industrial applications.

The Chelmsford, UK, firm said in its trading update for the six months ended September 30 that it would maintain its financial outlook for the full year, despite concerns about the broader macroeconomic environment and “some signs of softening demand”.

In the company’s high-performance imaging business, some of that softness is being seen in the machine vision sector, while e2v has witnessed significant growth in space imaging applications for both established and new programs. Two new projects include an order for a focal plane array subsystem destined for a land-based telescope in Korea, and another terrestrial space science application in Brazil.

e2v added that scientific imaging applications were also showing good end user demand. Referring to the change in emphasis of bookings from defense to commercial and industrial applications as countries rein in their defense spending, the company’s chief executive Keith Attwood said: “The group has performed strongly in the first half. The changing order book profile reflects the anticipated change in the mix of our business.”

“We are securing early orders for our industrial processing systems business and repositioning ourselves in the value chain for key applications such as space imaging and electronic countermeasures,” he added in a statement accompanying the update.

As of September 30, e2v’s order book stood at £146 million (down from £167 million one year earlier), with £120 million of that total set for delivery within 12 months. The firm’s net borrowings now stand at £32 million, after e2v agreed a new £80 million revolving banking facility in July.