High-technology company TRUMPF presents figures for the 2019/20 fiscal year: Sales decline by -8 percent from 3.8 to 3.5 billion euros / Order intake falls by -11 percent from 3.7 to 3.3 billion euros / Germany, USA, Netherlands and China largest single markets for TRUMPF / Partnership with Munich Re for pay-per-part model / Oliver Maassen new Group Managing Director for Human Resources
At the end of the 2019/20 fiscal year on June 30, 2020, the TRUMPF Group recorded a decline in sales of
-8 percent to 3.5 billion euros (financial year 2018/19: 3.8 billion euros). Incoming orders fell to 3.3 billion euros (financial year 2018/19: 3.7 billion euros). This corresponds to a minus of 11 percent. TRUMPF benefited from the high order backlog, with sales exceeding incoming orders by 210 million euros.
Earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT), at 309 million euros, also declined, depending on sales, and fell by 11.5 percent compared to the 2018/19 fiscal year (349 million euros). However, thanks to the consistent implementation of the "Koyer" earnings improvement program, TRUMPF was able to noticeably dampen the decline in the EBIT margin: Due to the reduction of investments and material costs as well as efficiency improvements, the company achieved a good overall return of 8.9 percent (previous year: 9.2 percent).
In addition, TRUMPF reacted to the consequences of Corona in spring 2020 with further cost-saving measures such as the reduction of working time accounts and holiday days, and then, from April onwards, with the introduction of short-time work and an additional reduction in material costs and investments. As a result, the decline in returns was further cushioned.
Nicola Leibinger-Kammüller, President and CEO of the TRUMPF Group: "We have been feeling a weakening of the global economy since autumn 2018. Corona has further intensified the decline - as a crisis within a crisis. However, our sales have fallen much less than in the mechanical engineering industry as a whole. In addition, through consistent cost management, we have succeeded in keeping our return on investment almost at the previous year's level."
Commenting on the outlook for the 2020/21 financial year, which began on 1 July 2020, she said: "In the first three months we were able to halt the decline in sales and new orders. We are seeing cautious signs that the economic downturn is coming to an end, although there is still no upturn.
TRUMPF's largest individual markets
After Germany with sales of 610 million Euros, the USA with 490 million Euros and the Netherlands with 480 million Euros, due to the EUV business with ASML, were TRUMPF's three largest individual markets worldwide, followed by China with 350 million Euros. In many European core markets such as Italy or Spain, but also in Eastern Europe, sales fell, in some cases by double digits, as a result of the weak global economy and the corona shutdown.
EUV and electronics again strong
Once again, the Ditzingen-based EUV business unit was the driving force behind this positive result. TRUMPF supplies the Dutch customer ASML with special lasers for systems that use extreme ultraviolet radiation to expose surfaces of chips for the computer industry. Here, TRUMPF was able to increase sales by +19 percent from 388 million Euros in the previous year to 460 million Euros. EUV thus contributed almost as much to Group sales as the entire US subsidiary of TRUMPF.
The Electronics Division, part of the Laser Technology Business Division, located in Freiburg at TRUMPF Hüttinger and in Warsaw, again exceeded expectations with sales of 230 million Euros. This corresponds to a 15 percent increase over the previous year (199 million Euros). The main reasons for this were the increasing demand for the solar industry in China and the semiconductor industry in the USA and Japan.
Development of employee numbers and short-time working
The number of TRUMPF employees, measured against the previous year, remained more or less the same at 14,325. In Germany, there were 7,437 employees as of June 30, 2020, of which 4,353 worked at the headquarters in Ditzingen. In the year under review, 513 young people completed an apprenticeship or course of study at the Duale Hochschule. At 3.6 percent, the training ratio was thus even higher than in the previous year (3.4 percent).
Between April and June 2020, 30 percent of employees were on short-time working, with the exception of EUV. The share of employees on short-time work at TRUMPF in October 2020 is 27 percent, compared to 30 percent in the two previous quarters. TRUMPF currently has a work quota of 80 percent again.
Regarding the debate about home offices and a "New Normal," Nicola Leibinger-Kammüller affirmed that TRUMPF remains a company with a presence as a production company: "We do not want to fall into the blind activism we see in other companies. We want to think through the processes from front to back and, based on comparative studies, first form a well-founded opinion about how the home office demonstrably affects productivity. But we also want to understand the cultural and social consequences of people not meeting for weeks and months at a time.
To reflect the strategic importance of the topic of human resources and employee development, Oliver Maassen (56), Head of Human Resources at TRUMPF since 2017, has been appointed Group Managing Director responsible for human resources effective October 1, 2020. Before joining TRUMPF, he worked for the consulting firm Pawlik and was responsible for human resources at HypoVereinsbank/UniCredit.
Low corona figures at TRUMPF
In the period up to 30.06.2020, TRUMPF had 70 positive corona cases and 843 people in quarantine group-wide. In Ditzingen there were 26 infections and 158 quarantine cases in the same period. Currently, 19 active corona cases are recorded in the TRUMPF group and 77 people in quarantine. Of these, eight people are in purely "technical quarantine" after a service visit abroad - i.e. without symptoms.
Investments and acquisitions, high R&D rate
As a result of the Koyer savings programme, investments were reduced by -33 percent to 194 million euros (previous year: 288 million euros). TRUMPF also strengthened its technological competence through acquisitions in the period before March 2020: Effective July 1, 2019, the subsidiary INGENERIC took over the company Aixtooling. On October 31, 2019, TRUMPF Photonics acquired 100 percent of Stellar Industries in the USA. In December 2019, TRUMPF acquired a minority share in the French laser technology start-up GLOphotonics; in January 2020, it finally acquired HBH Microwave.
TRUMPF remained a research-intensive company in fiscal year 2019/20. Expenditures for research and development amounted to 377 million Euros after 396 million Euros in fiscal year 2018/19. In relation to the declining sales, the development ratio thus increased to 10.8 percent (previous year: 10.5 percent).
New Smart Factory in Ditzingen
A new Smart Factory will be opened at the headquarters in Ditzingen in October 2020, in which 6 million euros have been invested. There are now 30 interlinked machines on an area of 5,000 square metres. The new Smart Factory is open to customers to see for themselves the efficiency improvements in production and new networking solutions. Together with the Smart Factory in Chicago in the USA and in Taicang in China, TRUMPF is now represented with state-of-the-art factories in all major markets.
Strategic partnership with Munich Re for sheet metal production
In addition, TRUMPF wants to break new ground in its business models. Together with the reinsurer Munich Re Group, TRUMPF is planning for the first time in the history of both companies a strategic partnership for a new type of distribution of laser cutting machines. It should enable customers to use high-quality fully automatic laser machines such as the TruLaser Center 7030 for sheet metal processing without having to buy or lease them. Instead, customers pay a previously agreed price for each cut sheet metal part - also known as the pay-per-part model. In this model, the Munich Re Group finances the machine, and its subsidiary Relayr provides the financing model with data analyses. TRUMPF supplies the machines, software and services for manufacturing the sheet metal parts. The operational headquarters of the project will be located at the TRUMPF site in Neukirch, Saxony. From there, access to the machines is to be coordinated.
www.trumpf.com
