The transformation of the automotive industry is an ongoing process. The most important market trends, such as environmentally-friendly mobility or autonomous and connected driving, are influencing all the relevant players and are reflected in many different facets of the industry. The combination of mobility and IT is continuously creating new areas of business activity. “The resulting breadth and depth of topics presents opportunities for the Group. The interconnect between mobility and data is growing all the time and is generating new topics and services alongside traditional fields of business, in which Bertrandt can take on considerably more responsibility as a reliable technology partner in the development process. Bertrandt’s aim is to develop the best solution in each case for its customers,” says Markus Ruf, Member of the Board, Finance of Bertrandt AG.
Business performance in the period under review reflects the heterogeneous conditions specific to the industry. Total revenues in fiscal 2018/2019 increased by 3.8 percent to EUR 1,059.870 million. Bertrandt generated EBIT of EUR 60.322 million, a margin of 5.7 percent and post-tax earnings of EUR 39.014 million. In order to round off the Company’s range of services it invested EUR 65.219 million in future-oriented infrastructure and technical equipment for trend topics in fiscal 2018/2019. With an equity ratio of 51.5 percent the Company stands on a firm financial footing. The number of employees increased by 435 in the reporting period to 13,664 people. The various activities in which the Company engages offer perspectives for specialists from numerous disciplines.
Changes in the market, leaps in technology to new drive systems and digitalisation all continue. What is more, the economic setting is challenging, particularly in the light of the uncertain development of the trade relationship between the USA and China as well as doubts regarding the resolution of the Brexit issue. Bertrandt is constantly expanding its know-how and investing in the necessary infrastructure to respond to changes in the industry and to serve current megatrends. Whether autonomous driving, electromobility, virtual reality or other new technologies, as a solutions-focused engineering partner the Company is geared up to focus on the market and customer requirements of the future and is consistently and sustainably enhancing its competencies to achieve this.
A good example is the HARRI innovation platform which has been developed entirely within the Company and which demonstrates Bertrandt’s technological capabilities along the entire value chain of mobility concepts. HARRI combines the current tend topics of digitalisation, autonomous driving, connectivity and electromobility in a single vehicle. This innovation platform offers solutions for the automotive industry as well as application opportunities for the infrastructure of local authorities, logistics companies or passenger transport. In order to offer innovative services, such as electrified drives, Bertrandt opened a large high-voltage battery test centre for power electronics in this fiscal year. Bertrandt has also set its eyes on the future by intensifying its use of agile startup-type units in the fields of medical technology, virtual and augmented reality, cloud solutions, machine learning and big data. This will enable the Group to further strengthen its presence in the market.
IFRS-based figures for the Bertrandt Group | 2018/2019 | 2017/2018 |
Total revenues (EUR million) | 1,059.870 | 1,021.020 |
EBIT (EUR million) | 60.322 | 72.141 |
Post-tax earnings (EUR million) | 39.014 | 47.385 |
Free cash flow (EUR million) | 24.589 | -23.727 |
Capital expenditure (EUR million) | 65.219 | 52.500 |
Equity ratio (in percent) | 51.5 | 50.6 |
Employees worldwide | 13,664 | 13,229 |
