Statement of the Chairman and the CEO

Comet going strong in times of change.

2020 was a year of renewal for Comet.

The spreading pandemic meant that concern for one’s own and others’ health became a dominant issue for most people around the world. Measures to protect against Covid-19 changed the way we live, study, work, and shop.

Many activities abruptly shifted to the virtual space. People now had to rely on digital solutions like video conferencing to stay connected and work remotely.

The rapid “digitalization of everything” and the resulting increase in demand for semiconductor devices allowed Comet to participate in this transformation with its high-end products. Our top priorities were the health of our employees and on-time delivery to our customers. As a result, we were able to increase sales by 6.5% and boost the Group’s net income to CHF 27.7 million, exceeding our expectations.

We made significant progress in the implementation of our focus strategy initiated in 2019:

By completing the sale of ebeam to Tetra Pak, we can now fully focus on Comet’s core plasma control systems and x-ray businesses
Through the acquisition of the Canadian software developer ORS, we invested in capabilities for the digital future, including artificial intelligence and machine learning
The product portfolio was expanded in all three divisions
We increased our production capacity in Switzerland and Germany and strengthened our presence in Asia

All this occurred during an unprecedented time of change for our customers, our partners and ourselves.

We invested heavily in our team to further develop the Group’s most precious resource, our people. More than 70 of our international managers and top talent completed a leadership program in partnership with the IMD business school in Switzerland. The goal was to become more outside-in oriented as a company, improve our speed of innovation and enhance our business processes and behaviors in order to raise our performance at all levels of leadership and in every business area.

Covid-19 will continue to test us in 2021. Yet we are confident we will master the multifaceted challenges it brings. We are grateful to have succeeded as a company in an extraordinarily demanding year and are excited about Comet’s prospects for a continued successful, profitable and sustainable future. We are eager to take advantage of the business opportunities available to us in the age of the Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, the cloud, digital health, autonomous vehicles, 5G and more.

With our highly dedicated employees, we want to make a significant contribution to a safer, more efficient and more sustainable world. In doing so, we draw on Comet’s more than 70 years of experience, our passion and our curiosity as we accelerate technological change for the global good.

We sincerely thank all our customers, employees, partners and investors for their continued commitment and trust in Comet.

Heinz Kundert, Chairman of the Board of Directors, Comet Group
Kevin Crofton, Chief Executive Officer, Comet Group

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