Barco

Comments on the results

For Healthcare, both orders and sales declined double-digit versus 2022. Particularly in the Americas, sales were impacted by channel inventories above normal levels, following a surge in customer orders at the end of 2022 in anticipation of potential component shortages. In China, demand was soft, driven by higher customer inventories and anti-bribery actions from the government targeting healthcare businesses.

The gross profit margin for Healthcare increased to 36.0%. This reflects a favorable product mix with proportionally more (embedded) software products, partially offset by temporary transfer and costs associated with ramping up the new factory. With a decreasing topline, but indirect spending firmly controlled, the EBITDA margin dropped 1.5 points to 9.7%.