Fourth quarter
- Order intake increased by 50% to 597 MSEK (397).
- Net sales rose by 33% to 466 MSEK (350).
- EBIT up to 21.9 MSEK (-5.2).
- Profit after tax of 10.8 MSEK (-11.7).
- Earnings per share were 0.37 SEK (-0.41).
- The beijer group share moved up to Nasdaq Stockholm’s Mid Cap List at year-end.
- The Beijer Electronics and Korenix business entities report as a single entity from 1 January 2022.
Full year
- Order intake increased by 40% to 2,031 MSEK (1,449).
- Net sales rose by 13% to 1,619 MSEK (1,438).
- EBIT up to 68.3 MSEK (15.8).
- Profit after tax increased to 36.0 MSEK (-6.1).
- Earnings per share were 1.24 SEK (-0.20).
- Acquisition of ELTEC of Germany.
- The Board of Directors is proposing a dividend of 0.50 SEK (0) per share for the financial year 2021.
- Westermo’s President Jenny Sjödahl appointed as the new President and CEO of BEIJER GROUP effective 1 March 2022.
COMMENTS FROM CEO PER SAMUELSSON
“BEIJER GROUP consolidated its positive trend of high growth of order intake and sales in the fourth quarter. Throughout the pandemic, our ambition has been to emerge stronger from this crisis. We’ve made managing the global component shortage and safeguarding our delivery capacity a conscious strategy,
which improved sales and order intake, and has been well received by our customers. This also meant higher purchasing costs for components, which impacted earnings in the quarter. Price increases to customers will progressively compensate for the increased component costs through coming quarters.
We reached another milestone as order intake passed 2 billion SEK for the full year 2021. In the fourth quarter, order intake was up by 50% to nearly 600 MSEK. The increase is broad based, covering the Group’s three business entities, and all geographical regions.
We’ve strengthened our positioning with current business customers, who have generally shown good demand. We’ve also secured several new business accounts, demonstrating growing interest in our solutions and products. At the same time, we’re seeing signs of altered customer behavior, with customers
placing orders with longer advance planning.
BEIJER GROUP’s improved delivery capability in the quarter was reflected in its higher growth rate. Sales were up by over 30% in this period. The increased costs of components amount to nearly 20 MSEK, which impacted earnings in the fourth quarter. We were also affected by negative currency effects of 7 MSEK due to factors including the sharp depreciation of the Turkish lira. The earnings level for the quarter is too low, but in normal circumstances, we would have been able to perform in line with our EBIT margin target.
Over the past year, we advanced our positioning in product terms. Westermo acquired German company ELTEC, which added wireless communications solutions for passenger information on trains to the business entity’s offering. Our subsidiary Virtual Access launched the first product in its planned product range called Merlin in the energy segment. Westermo also launched new robust network solutions for the power distribution segment, and an extensive upgrade of its WeOS operating system with enhanced functionality.
Beijer Electronics introduced 16 new products, including software upgrades for its iX software, which was updated with new functionality. Korenix made further advances in the product plan based on its new platform—the Korenix Switch OS platform—consisting of software and hardware.
The partnership between Beijer Electronics and Korenix has continued to plan. Their coordination of marketing, sales, supply chains and inventory management is complete. These entities’ product development and offerings are being increasingly integrated. Overall, in this context, I’d like to showcase a breakthrough order of some 24 MSEK from one of the world’s largest semiconductor producers that Korenix secured in the quarter. This order is one concrete outcome of the partnership the business entities began in 2020, and includes a combination of Korenix’s and Beijer Electronics’ offerings. The order was won against tough international competition, and we take an optimistic view of future new opportunities for the business entities’ combined offering. The business entities will take more steps in their partnership in 2022, which include reporting jointly as a single entity called Beijer Electronics.
The strategy we staked out a few years ago is now reaping successes, not least in terms of growth, and we think we still have great potential to boost profitability. Our objective is for our entities to have the capacity to achieve minimum yearly organic growth of 10%, and the potential to achieve an
EBIT margin of 15%. We are continuing to screen potential acquisitions. It’s gratifying that our share is now on Nasdaq Stockholm’s Mid Cap List. We can also report that assuming the Annual General Meeting approves the Board of Directors’ proposal, BEIJER GROUP will start paying dividends again.
This is my final financial report, as due to my age, I’ll be leaving my position at the end of February this year. Westermo’s President Jenny Sjödahl has been appointed as the President and CEO of BEIJER GROUP effective 1 March. I’m delighted to hand over to her, to keep developing our business and organization,
with our highly skilled and professional co-workers.
Uncertainty regarding the component shortage remains substantial, and predicting when things may normalize is difficult. We’re monitoring the China/Taiwan and Russia/Ukraine political situations closely. Nevertheless, beijer group has gone into the New Year in good market conditions, with a record order book and stronger customer offering. That’s why we think the Group has good potential to keep improving its financial results for 2022 compared to the previous year.”
INVITATION TO CONFERENCE CALL
Today a conference call will be held for press and analysts, where President and CEO Per Samuelsson and EVP and CFO Joakim Laurén present the company and comment on the report.
Time: Thursday January 27, 14:00 CET
To participate in the conference please dial:
From SE: +46850558354
From UK: +443333009032
To access the presentation please use this link:
https://www.anywhereconference.com?Conference=425017759&PIN=19653743&UserAudioMode=DATA
The report and the presentation will be available at the company’s website www.beijergroup.com. A recording of the conference call will also be available here after the event.
Welcome to join!
This disclosure contains information that Beijer Electronics Group is obliged to make public pursuant to the EU Market Abuse Regulation (EU nr 596/2014). The information was submitted for publication, through the agency of the contact person, on 27-01-2022 13:00 CET.
Beijer Electronics Group AB (publ) is a growing powerhouse of innovators within mission-critical industrial digital technology and IIoT. With a strong focus on the connection between people, technology and data, we share a pride in having some of the world's leading global companies as our core customers. Since its start-up in 1981, BEIJER GROUP has evolved into a multinational group of complementary business entities with sales over 1.6 billion SEK in 2021.
The company is listed on the Nasdaq Stockholm Main Market under the ticker BELE. www.beijergroup.com
Related files
For more information please contact:
President and CEO, Per Samuelsson, tel 46 (0)40 35 86 10, mobile 46 (0)708 58 54 40
Executive VP and CFO Joakim Laurén, tel 46 (0)40 35 84 96, mobile 46 (0)703 35 84 96.