“The delivery situation for chassis is dramatic,” said Dieter Siegel, CEO of Rosenbauer, yesterday at the online presentation of the 2021 balance sheet. The consequence: 260 employees in production at the main plant in Leonding have been on short-time work since the beginning of April.
Although this is only a small part of the workforce, the measure is intended to save material so that production can then be undisturbed by supply problems. All in all, Rosenbauer employs 1,800 people at its headquarters in Leonding. Group-wide there are 4130, 3.7 percent more than in the previous year.
The order situation is good, said Siegel. At the end of the year, the order backlog reached a volume of 1.15 billion euros and was thus well above annual sales, which fell below the billion mark again in the previous year at 975.1 million euros (minus 6.6 percent). The earnings figures fell even more significantly: the annual profit (period result) fell by 43.3 percent to 23.2 million euros.
The dividend is to be reduced in line with the significant drop in earnings, from 1.5 euros to 90 cents. Based on the closing price of EUR 46.4, this corresponds to a dividend yield of 1.9 percent; in the previous year, it was more than twice as high at 4.1 percent.
Electric drive for all series
In view of the war in Ukraine, Siegel expects further difficulties in the supply chains for the current year. “In the current situation, a forecast is on the verge of negligence.” Nevertheless, he assumes “on the basis of the solid order backlog of sales of more than one billion”. The EBIT margin should remain unchanged at the previous year’s level.
However, the long-term perspective is quite optimistic: “Our EBIT margin is not satisfactory at this time, but we are confident that we will double our sales by 2030, and an EBIT margin of seven percent is definitely possible,” said the CEO in prospect. “We will remain world market leaders.” By 2023, Rosenbauer intends to offer an alternatively powered variant in all model series – in 2021, 4.5 million euros flowed into the development of electromobility. The proportion of green electricity in total electricity consumption is set to rise from 64.8 to 75 percent by 2025.
Siegel expects impulses from the “Interschutz” trade fair in Hanover at the end of June. Rosenbauer also wants to present an E-Panther there. The American counterpart to the RT, the RTX, is also to be presented at a fire brigade fair in the USA.
This year, 17 of these electric fire engines are to be produced. (hn)
Source: Nachrichten
