"We are the winners of the digital transformation," explains Andreas Lapp, CEO of Lapp Holding AG, during the Bilzanz press conference in mid-February. According to him, the sales increase of 295 million euros is by far the strongest increase in the company's history. The copper average price, which has risen significantly compared to the previous year (+38.5 percent), played a large part. The currency development had only a minor impact with a minus of 1.4 percent compared to the previous year. Adjusted for these copper and currency effects, this results in real and still very strong sales growth of around 16.3 percent. "This significant increase is essentially due to the clear market recovery in the industrial environment in combination with gains in market share and was supported by general catch-up effects along the supply chains," emphasizes Jan Ciliax, CFO of Lapp Holding AG.

Significant growth in all regions

Sales have developed successfully in all regions of the Lapp Group: In the EMEA region (Europe, Near & Middle East and Africa) sales grew by 25 percent compared to the previous year to EUR 1,045 million. At around 73 percent, the geographic share of sales remained at the same high level. In the APAC region (Asia Pacific including India), sales increased even more significantly and at the end of the year were around 37 percent above the previous year's figure at EUR 242 million.

Lapp's regional presence with production and development capacities in India, China, Korea and Indonesia had a positive effect here. The Americas region (North, Central and South America) also grew exceptionally strongly by 16 percent to 137 million euros, after sales in the region remained stable in the previous year despite Corona.

Stable and robust finances

Lapp's asset and financial position is extremely stable and robust. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) increased significantly by around 51 percent to EUR 140 million compared to the previous year. Despite significant cost increases on the procurement side and in the supply chains, earnings before taxes (EBT) climbed from EUR 30 million in the same period of the previous year to EUR 82 million (+3.2 percentage points return on sales).

Equity rose significantly to around EUR 390 million, and the equity ratio remained at a consistently high level of 42.3 percent (previous year: 45.7 percent).

Strong investment boost

Despite the pandemic situation and related cost vigilance, the Lapp Group made substantial investments in intangible assets and property, plant and equipment in the past financial year with targeted investments of around 26 million euros. A particular focus was on software and digitization projects as well as the expansion and harmonization of global ERP systems (SAP HANA). Investments in property, plant and equipment focused on production and logistics locations in Europe and Korea as well as Lapp Mobility GmbH's own certified development laboratory. In addition to the investments mentioned, the Lapp Group increased its minority stake in the Italian KU/Unika Group to 100 percent on July 1, 2021 and took over the companies completely in the Lapp Group.

More employees worldwide

Due to the expansion of capacities, especially in production and logistics, the number of employees (excluding leased employees) increased worldwide by 7.2 percent to 4,586 as of September 30, 2021. The increase in the commercial areas of +8.5 percent was higher than that in the industrial area (+5.6 percent). In order to continue to ensure profitable and above-average growth in the future, investments were primarily made in building up the digital skills of employees. Under the motto "Culture of lifelong learning and trust", Lapp offers numerous digital formats.

Outlook for the current financial year

As of September 30, 2021, the order books were 130 percent well above the comparative value of the previous year. Despite the further noticeable effects of the pandemic, delivery bottlenecks and high raw material costs, Lapp also assesses the 2021/22 financial year as positive and expects a further moderate increase in sales in all regions. In order to support this growth digitally, customer- and region-specifically, Lapp intends to invest heavily in the hundreds of millions in the coming years.