During last days, two biggest companies of 3D printing industry – 3D Systems i Stratasys published their financial results for Q1 2016. Materialise – the biggest service company on the 3D printing market, is going to publish them next Wednesday. In the next articles I will present their biggest achievements and try to claim, what do they mean for the coming months. Let’s start with 3D Systems…
2015 wasn’t fulfilling for the company, which de facto created 3D printing industry. Decline of shares, problems with launching of new devices and decisions of closing next factories… A consequence of this happenings was resignation of long-standing CEO of the company – Avi Reichental and unexpected closing of consumerlines of 3D printers and Cubify services.
It was managed by Executive Management Committee with legendary founder of 3D Systems – Charles Hull. At the beginning of April 2015 it was announced, that Vyomesh Josh, former vice-president of Hewlett-Packard Company’s Imaging and Printing Group, who was connected with the concern from Palo Alto for 25 years. He has to face up to challenge to bring back the brilliancy of the biggest and the most important companies of 3D printing industry in the world…
The financial results, which were announced last week, show how much engagement is required from the CEO of the company. On the other hand, there is a chance for a better future. 3D Systems noted an income of almost 152,6 mln $ in the Q1 2016. It is 3,7 mln $ less than one year ago. It is not the worst result, when we consider the fact, that in the last quarter the company sold the last low-budget 3D printers Cubify and focused on professional devices.
Additionally, 3D Systems generated 18,1 mln $, what makes 169,8 mln $ in cash. There aren’t any debts and commitments. On the other hand, the company has still high own costs and problems with managing with complicated internal structure, what is a consequence of several hopeless decisions of taking over of smaller companies, what was a domain of Avi Reichental. 3D Systems began restructuring actions (vide closing of factories), however everything will be changed by Vyomesh Josh in the next months.
The financial results for the Q1 2016 show a stagnation and when we compare them with the results from last year, we can claim, that it succeed. The company stays before serious structural changes and adaptation to the market. A good prognosis for the future is distributive cooperation with Canon and Konica Minolta. The key point is successful restructuring and cleaning the mess, which was left by the former CEO.
