Jungheinrich Annual General Meeting 2022
Today, this year’s Jungheinrich AG Annual General Meeting was held online for the third time and streamed live from the Group headquarters in Hamburg
- 2021 the most successful financial year in the company’s history
- Dividend of €0.68 per preferred share
- 2022 began as expected
- Forecast for 2022 financial year unchanged
- Consistent implementation of Strategy 2025+
- Thanks to Jungheinrich workforce for strong performance in 2021 and their great support for refugees from Ukraine
The shareholders’ meeting approved the proposal of the Board of Management and the Supervisory Board and decided on a dividend payment of €0.68 per preferred share for the 2021 financial year share and €0.66 per ordinary share. In his speech, Chairman of the Board of Management Dr Lars Brzoska presented the successful 2021 financial year and explained the current challenges in 2022. He emphasised that profitable growth was expected for the current financial year, but at a lower rate than originally planned. The reasons are supply chain tensions and sharp rises in the cost of materials and logistics. Russia’s war against Ukraine, which began at the end of February, has exacerbated high levels of uncertainty in the European and global economies, and thus also for Jungheinrich’s business development.
In the course of his speech, Dr Brzoska highlighted the progress made with Strategy 2025+ and the measures that had been implemented, also mentioning the related changes to strategic targets. Dr Brzoska thanked the Jungheinrich workforce for its exceptional team performance in 2021 and for its great commitment to helping refugees from the Russia-Ukraine war.
Financial year 2021
Despite ongoing restrictions in business activities and continued challenges posed to supply chains by the coronavirus pandemic, the Jungheinrich Group’s incoming orders and revenue rose more sharply in 2021 than initially forecast. The forecast target ranges for incoming orders and revenue, which had already been corrected upwards during the year due to continuing strong demand for Jungheinrich products and services, were exceeded. Incoming orders reached a record figure of €4.87 billion, and Group revenue also saw a historic high at €4.24 billion. EBIT improved significantly and, totalling €360 million, exceeded the previous year’s value by €142 million, or an increase of 65 per cent. EBIT ROS also topped the previous year’s value, increasing by 8.5 per cent. EBT came to €349 million. EBT return on sales amounted to 8.2 per cent. Cash flow from operating activities amounted to €251 million. As of 31 December 2021, net credit stood at €222 million.
In his speech to the shareholders Dr Lars Brzoska said, “In the tug-of-war between boom and crisis, 2021 was the most successful financial year in the company’s history. We started the year with the aim of growing profitably even in the pandemic. And we were successful. In accordance with our Strategy 2025+, we created sustainable value in 2021 and increased company value. Our return to the MDAX shows that, from the perspective of capital markets too, Jungheinrich is on the right track.”
Dividend proposal of €0.68 per preferred share.
In view of the very successful financial year, shareholders approved the proposal of the Jungheinrich Board of Management to pay a dividend of 0.68 euros per preferred share and 0.66 euros per ordinary share. This will result in a total distribution of €68 million. The payment ratio of 26 per cent is in line with Jungheinrich AG’s long-term dividend policy of paying between 25 per cent and 30 per cent of profit for the year to shareholders.
Dr Lars Brzoska: “We are pursuing our policy of continuous dividend payments and this year the dividend has reached a historic high. The reliable participation of shareholders in the company’s success is essential for us.”
2022 began as expected.
Business development in first quarter of the 2022 financial year was in line with Jungheinrich’s expectations. Despite challenges in the supply chains and bottlenecks in the supply of materials, incoming orders, revenue and EBIT increased against the previous year. Russia’s war against Ukraine, which began at the end of February, has led to high levels of uncertainty in the European and global economies, and thus also for Jungheinrich’s business development. In light of these circumstances, our forecast for 2022 remains unchanged. On the basis of the updated corporate planning and in view of economic uncertainty, the Board of Management anticipates that incoming orders for the full year 2022 will be slightly lower than the previous year (2021: €4.9 billion). With ongoing supply chain bottlenecks, Group revenue for 2022 is expected to be slightly above the previous year’s value (2021: €4.2 billion). EBIT and EBT are both likely to be significantly below the previous year’s figures (2021: €360 million and €349 million respectively). The rates of return for EBIT and EBT could then also be significantly lower compared with the previous year (2021: 8.5 per cent and 8.2 per cent).
Dr Lars Brzoska: “Despite the challenging circumstances, incoming orders, revenue and EBIT were all higher in the first quarter of 2022 than in same period of the previous year. So far, market demand remains good.”
Strategy 2025+
In his speech, Dr Brzoska discussed the company’s Strategy 2025+, adopted in autumn 2020, and its central objective: to create sustainable value for all stakeholders. Strategic projects and activities are being pursued consistently, despite all the geopolitical changes.
In the course of 2021, and thanks to a successful implementation, Jungheinrich reviewed the target figures of Strategy 2025+ and increased the revenue, productivity and return targets. To achieve these targets, a large number of projects are being initiated and advanced within the framework of six fields of action – automation, digitalisation, energy systems, efficiency, global footprint and sustainability.
The market launch of the new automated vertical order picker EKS 215a and the acquisition of technology company arculus were the two most important milestones for the company in automation in 2021. In the field of energy systems, two new pedestrian pallet trucks were successfully brought to market from the POWERLiNE series, the ERE 225i and the ERD 220i; they offer significant added value for customers in terms of their compact footprint, ergonomics, safety and performance. They are also completely CO2-neutral by the time they are delivered.
Jungheinrich is expanding its production network with a new plant in Chomutov, Czechia, with the aim of continuously optimising production capacities and efficiency. Two milestones – as-is analysis and the concept for the new Group management system – were achieved as part of the internal transformation programme DEEP.
Climate neutrality has been defined as a medium-term goal in the sustainability field of action, including a commitment to the Science Based Targets initiative. Dr Brzoska explained how Jungheinrich products and solutions make a particular contribution to reducing emissions. A Jungheinrich lithium-ion truck using green power can reduce CO2 emissions by up to 90 per cent compared with an IC engine-powered forklift. In terms of the circular economy, Jungheinrich is focussing on used trucks, where it has a 94 per cent recycling rate, and on concepts for second-life and third-life batteries. Jungheinrich was awarded the EcoVadis platinum rating for the first time as one of the top 1 per cent of companies worldwide for sustainability.
Please note: the full speech made by the Chairman of the Board of Management, Dr Lars Brzoska, can be found here: