HÖRMANN Group publishes half-year report 2022

HÖRMANN Industries GmbH (corporate bond, WKN: A2TSCH) today published its financial results for the first six months of 2022. At € 298.5 million, the Group's revenue in the reporting period was on a par with the first half of 2021 (previous year: € 296.3 million). However, this figure includes around € 18 million in material price increases in the Automotive division that were passed on with no effect on earnings; accordingly, value-added sales in the first six months of 2022 were lower than in the previous year. The decline in sales was mainly due to the Automotive and Intralogistics divisions, which were impacted by the effects of the Ukraine conflict and the COVID-19 pandemic as well as the associated delivery bottlenecks and project delays in the first half of 2022.

The HÖRMANN Group's earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) amounted to € 6.4 million in the reporting period (previous year: € 19.8 million), while earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) amounted to € 0.5 million (previous year: € 13.8 million). The first half of 2022 closed with a consolidated net loss of € 3.9 million (previous year: consolidated net profit of € 9.0 million).

Johann Schmid-Davis, CFO of HÖRMANN Industries GmbH: "Against the backdrop of the very challenging economic environment, the earnings situation in the first half of the year is acceptable, but not satisfactory. Despite the renewed prolonged interruption to production in the Automotive division and the sharp rise in costs, including for materials and energy, we have achieved an operational turnaround and returned to profit in the second quarter. We are cautiously optimistic for the remainder of the year and expect earnings to continue to stabilize for the year as a whole."

Development of the business divisions

In the Automotive division, sales increased year-on-year to € 189.0 million (previous year: € 181.2 million) due to the price of materials. Adjusted for price effects, value-added sales amounted to around € 179 million. In particular, the interruption in production by a key customer due to a lack of wire harnesses from Ukraine had a significant negative impact on the division's sales performance and earnings situation. The sharp rise in material and energy prices also had a negative impact on EBIT, which amounted to € -5.6 million after the first six months of 2022 (previous year: € 1.2 million).

After a very good year in 2021, the Communication division also got off to a good start in the new 2022 financial year and generated revenue of € 75.3 million in the reporting period, on a par with the previous year (previous year: € 76.6 million). As in 2021, the division benefited from government economic measures and additional government investment in the accelerated expansion of European railroad control and safety technology (ETCS) as well as the more efficient design of the network infrastructure for the digitalization of rail transport. On the other hand, problems with the availability of materials, particularly electronic components, and the resulting price increases and project delays had an unfavorable impact on earnings. Accordingly, earnings before interest and taxes fell to € 9.8 million compared to the first half of 2021 (previous year: € 13.8 million).

With sales revenue of € 10.6 million - excluding the subsidiaries assigned to the new Intralogistics division - the Engineering division was, as expected, down on the same period of the previous year (€ 12.8 million, as-ob). Supported by a high-margin product and service mix, EBIT increased to € 2.4 million in the first half of 2022 despite the reduction in revenue (previous year: € 2.1 million).

The Intralogistics division, which was established in May 2022, generated revenue of € 22.7 million in the first half of 2022 (previous year: € 26.0 million, as-ob). In the reporting period, the new division concentrated on restructuring and the associated reorganization. In addition to the structural realignment, the operational focus is on processing the multi-year project orders. The division is currently working to capacity with an order backlog of over € 120 million, with a lack of personnel resources, delivery bottlenecks, material price increases and construction delays making project implementation extremely difficult in some cases. These restrictions led to negative EBIT of € -3.5 million in the first six months of 2022 (previous year:
-0.8 million).

Forecast for 2022 as a whole adjusted slightly

In light of the business development in the first half of 2022, the HÖRMANN Group has slightly adjusted its forecast for the full year 2022. At Group level, HÖRMANN Industries GmbH expects total revenue of € 630 million to € 660 million for the current year (previously € 585 million to € 610 million) after evaluating the current order situation and confidently assessing business development. The main reason for the increase in the sales forecast is inflation-related price increases, primarily in the Automotive division. In connection with the expected disproportionately high sales realization in the fourth quarter, a positive operating EBIT of between € 20.5 million and € 23.5 million (previously € 22 million to € 25 million) is targeted for the operating business. The reduction is due to the negative impact of higher material prices, primarily in the Automotive and Intralogistics divisions. In addition, there are foreseeable increases in personnel and energy costs in the second half of the year. HÖRMANN Industries GmbH points out that the actual results may vary and depend heavily on the further development of material availability and energy costs, among other things. It should also be added that the adjusted forecast does not take into account the possible consequences of a gas supply freeze, an escalation of the war in Ukraine or a renewed collapse of supply chains.

The Group interim report for the period from January 1 to June 30, 2022 is available here: http://www.hoermann-gruppe.de/investor-relations/finanzpublikationen.