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NLight 2018 revenue up 38.1 per cent despite challenging conditions in China

NLightan American manufacturer of semiconductor and industrial fibre lasers, has reported revenue of $191.4 million for the full year 2018, up 38.1 per cent from its $138.6 million revenue reported for 2017.

The reported growth has been made despite ongoing challenging economic conditions in China, with NLight president and CEO Scott Keeney commenting that the firm has identified expanding opportunities with fibre laser customers in other Asian markets, North America, and Europe.

Net income for the year, on a GAAP basis, was $13.9 million, up from $1.8 million for the previous year. NLight successfully completed its initial public offering in April last year, making net income per diluted share $0.32 for 2018. 

Fourth quarter revenues for 2018 were $46.2 million, up 23.2 per cent compared to $37.5 million for the fourth quarter of 2017. Net income for the quarter, on a GAAP basis, was $2.4 million, or $0.06 per diluted share, compared to $1.1 million for the fourth quarter of 2017.

‘Our financial performance in the fourth quarter and throughout 2018 demonstrates the diverse reach of our products from both an end market and geographic perspective,' commented Keeney. 'While conditions in the Chinese industrial market remain challenging, we see expanding opportunities with fibre laser customers in other Asian markets, North America, and Europe. With the rollout of higher power and differentiated fibre lasers, and our progress driving power and efficiency leadership in semiconductor lasers, we are well positioned to continue to grow at a faster rate than the overall high-power laser market.’

For the first quarter of 2019, NLight expects revenues to be in the range of $40.0 million to $44.0 million, with adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) expected to be between $2.0 million and $4.0 million.

NLight's Corona fibre laser wins Prism Award for innovation in industrial lasers at Photonics West

NLight has also won the 2019 Prism Award for Industrial Lasers with its Corona fibre laser at Photonics West. 

The Corona fibre laser, available in 3kW, 4kW, and 5kW, offers real-time programmable beam quality, enabled by all-fibre technology. This allows for rapid tuning of the laser to optimise machine tool performance across metal types, thicknesses, and applications.

The Prism award, presented by Photonics West organisers SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics, recognises outstanding examples of innovation in photonics. Industry expert judges review more than 150 applications for design and technology; novelty and innovation; need, market opportunity, and impact.

This year’s finalists for the industrial lasers category included, in addition to NLight: Israeli high-tech firm Civan Advanced Technologies for its HP Laser and Coherent Beam Combined (CBC) technology for material processing; and German laser manufacturer Trumpf, for its TruPrint 5000 3D printer, featuring three 500W fibre lasers, which was launched at Formnext last year.

Commenting on the win, Scott Keeney, CEO of NLight said: 'We are honoured to receive the Prism award and appreciate the recognition from our peers of how Corona is enabling performance improvements for our customers and their end users. We are further excited by the continued development of our programmable lasers and the new applications they will help make possible.'

'Corona exemplifies both the technical excellence and the tenacity of the nLIGHT team,' he added. 'I am proud of the entire NLight team and everyone involved in bringing this innovative product to market.'

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Business, Fibre lasers

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