Carl Zeiss, one of the world’s largest and most widely recognized optics companies, has reported a slight increase in sales in its latest financial year, though overall profits were down sharply as spending on semiconductor equipment wilted.

For the year ending September 30, Zeiss registered sales of €4.16 billion, up 2% from the prior year's record high. But with the semiconductor division’s sales dropping 18% to €967 million, as well as a sharp increase in spending to develop extreme UV (EUV) technology, Zeiss posted earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) of €420 million – down 31%.

CEO Michael Kaschke highlighted how the diverse nature of the Zeiss business had helped to ride out the semiconductor industry weakness, saying: “What is particularly notable is that our strong portfolio has enabled us to successfully offset the cyclical downturn in the revenue of the Semiconductor Manufacturing Technology business group. This would not have been possible just a few years ago.”

To read more: http://optics.org/news/3/12/21