HÖRMANN Industries publishes financial results for the first half of 2021
HÖRMANN Industries GmbH (corporate bond, WKN: A2TSCH) today published its financial results for the first six months of 2021. In the reporting period, the Group's sales increased by EUR 62.1 million year-on-year from EUR 234.2 million to EUR 296.3 million, of which around EUR 15 million was attributable to material price effects not affecting earnings. The increase in sales resulted disproportionately from the Automotive and Communication divisions, whereas the Engineering and Services divisions were not yet able to realize sales due to the late cyclical consequences of the COVID 19 pandemic as well as the orders that were postponed in the crisis year 2020. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) and operating earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) of the HÖRMANN Group improved significantly in the reporting period to EUR 19.8 million (previous year: EUR 6.2 million) and EUR 13.8 million (previous year: EUR -0.4 million) respectively. The first half of 2021 closed with a consolidated net income of EUR 9.0 million (previous year: EUR -4.5 million).
Dr. Michael Radke, CEO of HÖRMANN Industries GmbH: "We are very pleased with the development in the first half of 2021. While the Engineering and Services divisions still felt the effects of the recession in 2020, we were able to experience a very high customer demand in our Automotive and Communication divisions. And even though no one can say what impact the COVID 19 pandemic continues to have, we are optimistic about the current fiscal year, which we expect to close at pre-crisis figures at Group level."
Development of the business divisions
In the Automotive division, sales increased by EUR 62.7 million year-on-year from EUR 118.5 million to EUR 181.2 million in the first half of 2021 due to the strong rise in demand in the trucks and agricultural machinery product segments. However, the positive development in demand was offset by the shortage of materials, which led to a massive increase in material and personnel costs to ensure the delivery capability and weighed heavily on the half-year result. In addition, a year-on-year comparison must take into account the fact that production in the Automotive division was interrupted in the German plants in the prior-year period due to large-scale shutdowns of production capacities in the automotive industry.
The Communication division benefited from government stimulus measures and additional state investments in the expansion of European control and safety technology for railways as well as the more efficient design of the network infrastructure for digitization in railway transport ("Digitale Schiene Deutschland") and, with sales of EUR 76.6 million (previous year: EUR 64.9 million), reported sales growth of EUR 11.7 million compared to the previous year.
With sales of EUR 31.8 million, the Engineering division was, as expected, significantly below the sales of the prior-year period (EUR 41.4 million). This was due to severe delays in order placement in 2020 as a result of the great uncertainty surrounding the COVID 19 pandemic. By contrast, the high order intake in the first six months of 2021 (EUR 83.1 million) indicates that the division will be able to resume its high growth in the medium term.
The Services division contributed EUR 7.0 million (previous year: EUR 9.8 million) to consolidated sales and was also heavily impacted in the first half of 2021 by the lingering reluctance to place orders and by prevailing travel restrictions. The aim is to use its expertise in automation and maintenance to win customers from the non-automotive sector. To this end, the Automation division of SAV GmbH in Mittweida was acquired at the beginning of January 2021, as was the SOLution-TEC GmbH in Wolfenbüttel with effect from 1 November 2021.
Forecast for the full year raised
As announced in the ad hoc release of 10 August 2021, HÖRMANN Industries GmbH has raised its forecast for the current financial year 2021. Due to the positive business development, the HÖRMANN Group now expects total sales of EUR 600 million to EUR 620 million (original forecast 2021: EUR 540 million to EUR 560 million; 2020: EUR 521.5 million). Earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) for the operating business are expected to be in a range between EUR 26 million and EUR 28 million (original forecast 2021: EUR 20 million; 2020: EUR 12.6 million). Due to the still prevailing high level of uncertainty in connection with the COVID 19 pandemic, unexpected negative economic developments may cause the actual results for financial year 2021 to deviate from the forecast figures.
The consolidated interim report for the period from 1 January to 30 June 2021 is available at https://www.hoermann-gruppe.com/en/investor-relations/financial-publications/financial-reports.
