Business performance in third quarter negatively affected by coronavirus pandemic

The coronavirus pandemic and its consequences are having negative impacts on people and economies around the globe. The measures taken by governments in March 2020 to contain new infections forced almost all industries to temporarily curtail or completely suspend production. Social gatherings were prohibited and also shutdowns were imposed. It was only in May 2020 that restrictions began to be eased again, and some of the restrictive measures have still been effective as at the end of the period under review and going forward.

“These constraints present Bertrandt with entirely new challenges. Our highest priority in this context is to ensure our employees' safety while maintaining operational capacity. The wide availability of mobile workplace solutions, high-performance IT infrastructure and high digital security standards – Bertrandt has obtained TISAX certification – have enabled us to continue to work for our customers under these challenging circumstances, while at the same time protecting our employees”, says Markus Ruf, Board Member Finance at Bertrandt AG. Many industries and businesses were compelled to significantly reduce or even discontinue their economic activity to comply with public shutdown regulations. Temporary delays and interruptions in projects and few cancellations of development contracts have negatively affected the business of engineering service providers.

In the economic environment described above, the Company’s key performance indicators developed as follows in the first nine months of fiscal 2019/2020: Total revenues declined year on year by 9.1% to EUR 714 million. EBIT was EUR 19 million in the period under review, which is equivalent to a margin of 2.7%. Post-tax earnings came to EUR 9 million. Equity was EUR 410 million in the first nine months of fiscal 2019/2020. The equity ratio is 43.6% as a result of the implementation of the new accounting standard IFRS 16. As at the balance sheet date, 12,788 employees were working for Bertrandt worldwide. 

Benefiting from a solid capital structure and liquidity situation, we are in a good position to emerge from the crisis stronger. While Bertrandt responded quickly to the situation by putting all expenses under scrutiny, our company has continued to pursue its major strategic investment projects. We are proceeding as planned with the construction and the start-up phase of our Bertrandt Powertrain Solution Center which is located both in Munich and Wolfsburg. The first major projects for these sites have already been won.

*without IFRS 16: 49.6% (previous year 50.9%)