Barco’s sales and orders for the first quarter of 2022 represented the second best quarter, just behind its 2021 fourth quarter, since the pandemic began. Continued demand recovery drove order growth, fueled by strong uptakes in the Meeting Experience business unit, due to positive back-to-office dynamics in both EMEA and the Americas and in the Immersive Experience business unit. All regions contributed to the growth except for the APAC region in part due to the impact of lockdowns in China.

Driven by positive book-to-bill performances in all divisions, for the fourth consecutive quarter, orderbook grew solidly to a new record level of 530 million euro ($560 USD), an increase of 44 million euro compared to year-end 2021 with the most solid uptakes in Entertainment.

Double-digit sales growth reflected primarily deliveries on a strong orderbook for the Immersive Experience and Surgical and Modality business units. While sales were higher year-over-year in all divisions, component shortages continued to cause delays in converting orders to sales (impact 25 million euro, mainly Entertainment).

Barco also says its 1H outlook, assuming no further deterioration of the supply chain constraints, with sales expected to increase approximately 20% compared to 1H21. EBITDA margin is expected to be higher than the full year 2021 EBITDA margin.