Zepplin Group reports positive earnings for 2022
Munich, Germany – The Zeppelin Group finished a successful 2022 financial year, with sales of EUR 3.8 billion (2021: EUR 3.7 billion), an EBITDA of EUR 437 million (previous year: EUR 444 million) and earnings before taxes of EUR 135 million (previous year: EUR 160 million), though the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine had a negative impact on the result. The Zeppelin Group is also anticipating war-related stresses in 2023.
“Despite the particular challenges we have faced, especially the war against Ukraine and its effects, the sometimes-challenging political framework on some markets, highly dynamic price behavior, and persistent supply bottlenecks among our manufacturing partners and suppliers, we have achieved a remarkable result thanks to the combined strength and great commitment of our employees,” says Peter Gerstmann, Chairman of the Management Board of the Zeppelin Group.
Christian Dummler, Managing Director and CFO of the Zeppelin Group, emphasizes: “Thanks to our prudent corporate policy, financial stability, tried-and-tested crisis management and diversified product and service portfolio, we succeeded in continuing to develop the company in a positive and economically successful manner in 2022. In addition, Creditreform Rating AG has ranked the Zeppelin Group with an “A-” rating and a “stable” outlook. This rating once again confirms our high level of creditworthiness and very low default risk in a challenging environment.” “Zeppelin came through the crisis year 2022 quite well. The Group responded very quickly and appropriately to the additional challenges. The very good cooperation between the management, supervisory board and employee representatives is what sets us apart, especially during the crisis,” says Andreas Brand, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the Zeppelin Group.
Development of the strategic business unitsespite the current challenges, Zeppelin can look back on a successful year with robust sales and earnings development in the company’s strategic business units (SBUs). The order backlog in the Construction Equipment Central Europe SBU reached a record high, offering a strong starting point for the 2023 financial year.
The Construction Equipment Nordics SBU was able to expand its earnings despite a slight decline in sales performance as a result of Caterpillar’s limited delivery capacity, labor shortages and increasing inflation. The large order backlog provides a good basis for further development in Sweden, Denmark and Greenland. The construction of the new regional headquarters in Landvetter near Gothenburg underlines Zeppelin’s commitment to these areas.
After strong market growth in recent years, the positive business development of the Construction Equipment Eurasia SBU in the sales and service territories in Russia, Belarus and Ukraine was abruptly ended by the war. This caused economic power in Ukraine to shrink by more than a third. Mining and agriculture proved to be stabilizing factors in times of crisis, though with significantly lower sales than before the start of the war. Zeppelin discontinued business activities in Belarus due to the Western sanctions imposed. After a strong first quarter, activities in Russia were significantly reduced with the imposition of sanctions, and existing obligations to employees and partners were largely fulfilled under existing laws. Further imports of new machines were discontinued in coordination with our manufacturing partners in mid-2022. On the other hand, business development in Armenia and Uzbekistan was positive, in particular due to government infrastructure measures and noticeably higher levels of mining activities.
The rental market for construction machinery and equipment continued to grow in 2022. In this environment, the Rental SBU was able to expand its strong market position and significantly exceed the previous year’s figures in terms of both sales and earnings.
In addition, Zeppelin Rental worked on a comprehensive expansion of its integrated offering, focusing on growth abroad, especially in Sweden and Denmark.
The Power Systems SBU core markets for drive system technology and energy generation were severely impacted by the current sanctions against Russia and Belarus and the resulting energy crisis. Disrupted supply chains meant supply bottlenecks also arose for engines and spare parts. In the industrial segment, Caterpillar’s high demand could not be fully met due to limited delivery capacity. On the other hand, high order volumes were received in the Service division for overhauls and repairs of cruise ships, yachts and tugs.
Strong demand, broad process engineering expertise, an international presence and a strong market position on the future markets of battery production and plastics recycling secured high order volumes for the Plant Engineering SBU in nearly all market segments and regions. The SBU also strengthened its market position with a large-scale plastics production plant in the United Arab Emirates and a large malting plant for preliminary products used in beer production in South America.