Universal Robots: Figures 3rd quarter 2020
A short while ago, I predicted Universal Robots' quarterly figures here, and now they are available. With 53 million US-$ or a decrease of 10% compared to the previous year, UR generated slightly less than I expected. The unchanged high declines in Europe could have been a consequence of longer decision-making processes at the customer. This is because during the summer months the pandemic situation was quite relaxed and there were even slightly more trucks crossing the Brenner Pass in September than in the previous year (important indicator). However, it should be noted that UR had already stopped growing in Europe in the previous year. The pandemic therefore did not affect a high-growth company (cf. in the table the sister company MIR Mobile Industrial Robots), but a quasi static company. The recovery in the Americas is noteworthy: there, Universal Robots lost ground in the second quarter in parallel with the development in Europe. (A side note: While German labs report bottlenecks in testing, the much-criticized U.S. tests far more - the U.S. has four times as many residents, but has tested 6.9 times as much: Link).
If the respective revenues of the first three quarters of 2020 and 2019 are added together, it can be seen that Europe and Asia are both 19% below the previous year (Americas - 14%). This is interesting insofar as the pandemic in Q 1 2020 was only an issue in our region from March, but in Asia already before that.
Universal Robots, together with MIR and AutoGuide ($5 million in quarterly sales), which is not shown here, is part of the "Industrial Automation" division of the US-based Teradyne Group. The latter generates a multiple of the robotics revenues with its profitable Semiconductor Test division. This division has long-term orders, so that Teradyne is not affected, at least not in the short term, by the losses of Industrial Automation, which have already totaled $32 million this year (plus write-downs on the acquired robotics companies). Possibly a sign of dissatisfaction: a board member of the Semiconductor division now heads the Industrial Automation division. However, it also seems conceivable that synergies between the individual companies are to be leveraged. In the spring, Universal Robots and MIR already opened a joint development and production center in Odense(link). And: Goldman Sachs has just recently upgraded Teradyne with reference to the potential of Industrial Automation.
Vowever, are we networking? LinkedIn
-> To the Cobot group on LinkedIn(Link)
On my own account/advertisement
The author of this blog is significantly involved in the AI/robotics project Boost-Bot project. He advises robotics companies on market/ business development and financing issues (especially in bank meetings he can score points as a "neutral" third party due to his market knowledge). He is also available to potential users for a walk-through of your production/manufacturing or by phone based on photos/descriptions at a fixed price(detail) to then make concrete proposals for the use of cobots and other robots incl. funding opportunities. Both SMEs and large companies are visited. Among other things in Bavaria a 50% investment promotion is conceivable. The standard book about cobots also comes from him. In addition, he is very familiar with the KfW-Corona programs (incl. exemptions).