Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1484263
82 PCB007 MAGAZINE I NOVEMBER 2022 Martin: As a purchasing guy, no matter what the topic is, the key is to look at supply and demand. ere is a cycle in every single indus- try. At some point, you have a crisis. Let's say we go back to the pre-pandemic status and look at what we do on a daily basis. I monitor our RFQs internally—what we get from the customer—as this demonstrates what a PCB or copper-clad laminate manufacturer would receive. at is the kind of monitoring we do. Right now, the situation is back to pre-pan- demic status. ere is no crazy shortage of cop- per-clad laminate. Everything is available, and the price is more or less back to what it was. You can disregard other factors such as the increase in copper, because there is always demand and supply, and China creates such huge production facilities. If you look at Pris- mark, you see that H2 is not as good as H1. ey need to sell everything now when the demand is a little less than what it was, then it's easier for us to access. Johnson: at's good for the supply side now. But is customer demand for product down? Martin: If you look at the overall data from industry reports, it's increasing, but ICAPE Group's percentage is higher than the forecast in those reports. If you look at the first half of 2022 compared to the first half of 2021, ICAPE's sales revenues as a group increased by 51%. at's not what is happening in the market. Our increases are due to spe- cific investments and our IPO because we became a listed company in Paris in July. We did some M&As this year, but to be honest, the market in the second half is not as good as the first half. Jean-Christophe Miralles: is is mainly because there was a pre-pandemic vs. a pandemic period where people were stocking up. Prices went up, but we have direct contact with the laminate producers, which are the suppliers of our partner factories. It's a very interesting insight for us. Today, demand is declining because companies still have inven- tory and therefore don't order as much, but demand will come back. In terms of revenue, it's still good, but in terms of quantities, not as much. Martin: Every company should be interested in the book-to-bill ratio. For us this ratio is excel- lent. Why? Because last year we had crazy shortages everywhere. People got scared and stocked up. Once they had stock, they placed fewer orders. Now, everyone says, "Ah, fewer orders." We reply, "Yes, because you just got these blanket orders for 12 months in the last year at the end of the year." at's what hap- pened. But everything is a cycle, like when you are driving on a highway, someone slams on