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Media Release Haag , Switzerland , October 15 , 2021 " Ad hoc announcement pursuant to Art . 53 LR " RECORD Q3 ORDER INTAKE AND NET SALES DRIVEN BY MARKET GROWTH AND EXCELLENCE IN OPERATIONAL EXECUTION ; Q4 SALES GUIDANCE INDICATES FULL - YEAR 2021 RECORD NET SALES OF BETWEEN CHF 885-895 MILLION Q3 2021 results Record order intake of CHF 299 million , up 91 % year - on - year ( up 18 % sequentially ) Net sales up 23 % vs Q3 2020 to a record CHF 229 million ( up 2 % sequentially ) on continuing strength in Semiconductors , Global Service and Advanced Industrials . Book - to - Bill ratio of 1.3x ; order book of CHF 284 million Nine months 2021 results Investments in semiconductor manufacturing equipment remain at unprecedented levels ; service demand reaches record levels while advanced industrial markets continue strong recovery from pandemic - induced slowdown , with sales supported by new market initiatives Nine - month orders and sales at record levels of CHF 793 million and CHF 646 million , respectively Specification wins continue to be at a very high level Strong mitigation of supply chain challenges and solid factory ramp in Malaysia led to record Group factory output VAT GROUP Guidance for Q4 and outlook for full - year 2021 Semiconductor market outlook remains positive for Q4 and well into 2022 Order activity expected to remain at high level Q4 net sales¹ expected at CHF 240 - 250 million Full - year net sales¹ forecast at CHF 885 - 895 million . Full - year EBITDA margin expected to be above half - year level of 33.9 % Net income substantially above 2020 level Full - year capital expenditure expected to be around CHF 40 million . Record full - year free cash flow as EBITDA growth more than offsets working capital requirements in CHF million Order intake Net sales Order Backlog At constant foreign exchange rates 2 Quarter - on - Quarter 3 Year - on - Year Q3 2021 298.7 229.4 283.7 VAT Q2 2021 CHANGE² + 17.8 % + 2.3 % 253.5 224.2 218.3 + 30.0 % Q3 2020 156.4 185.9 124.1 CHANGE ³ + 91.0 % + 23.4 % + 128.6 % 9M 9M 2020 514.5 504.9 792.9 645.7 CHANGE ³ + 54.1 % + 27.9 % Third - quarter and nine - month 2021 summary Q3 sales growth driven by Semiconductor , Global Service and Advanced Industrials In Q3 2021 , VAT experienced continued strong markets driven by the long - term global growth in semiconductor demand , which has been accentuated by the recent chip shortage . Ongoing semiconductor technology innovations also fueled demand for advanced vacuum valves . Investments in the semiconductor industry are focused on both new chip generations and legacy platforms , yielding 1