Kardex Holding AG
SIX:KARN
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Kardex Holding AG
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Ladies
and
gentlemen,
welcome
to
the
publication of
Full
Year
2021
Conference
Call
and
Live
Webcast.
I
am
Ira,
the
Chorus
Call
operator.
I
would
like
to
remind
you
that
all
participants
will
be
in
listen-only
mode
and
the
conference
is
being
recorded.
The
presentation
will
be
followed
by
a
Q&A
session.
[Operator Instructions]
The
conference
must
not
be
recorded
for
publication
or
broadcast.
At
this
time,
it's
my
pleasure
to
hand
over
to
Edwin
van
der
Geest,
Investor
Relations.
Please
go
ahead.
Yes,
hello,
everybody.
Good
afternoon,
good
morning,
in
the
United
States,
good
night
in
Asia.
It's
nice
to
have
you
all
in
the
call
today.
We
have,
as
usual,
you
might
have
found
all the
documents
and
the
presentations
on
our
website
or
the
ones
who
are
in
the
webcast
to have
it
in
front
of
you.
We
have
with
us
Thomas
Reist,
CFO
and
Jens
Fankhänel,
CEO.
So
let's
start
with
our
presentation.
Please
Thomas,
can
I
hand
over
to
you?
Yes,
thank
you.
Hello
to
everyone.
I
would
like
as
always
start
with
highlights
and
key
achievements
2021.
If
you
look
at the
figures,
then
the
bookings
grew
very
strong.
This
has
two
main
reasons,
one
is
the
catch-up
effect
of
the
investments
of
the COVID-19
crisis,
and
also
that
we
see
recurring
trends
in
automation
in
the
intralogistics.
On
the
other
hand,
net
revenues
the
growth
pace
was
not
as
fast as
on
the
booking
level, mainly
due
to
the shortages
in the
global supply
chain.
Resulting
backlog
is
very
strong
currently. At the
very
end
of
the
year,
this
has
substantially
increased
compared
to
the
beginning
of
the
year
and
provides
us
for very long
visibility.
The
gross
profit margin
suffered
mainly
from
inefficiencies
in
the
production.
Those
who
joined
the
Capital
Markets
Day,
they
heard us
describe
how
difficult
it
is
to
produce
machines
currently
because
of
non-availability
of
components,
but
this
leads
to
these
inefficiencies.
But
on
the
other
hand,
the
gross
profit
margin
was
also
affected
by
price
increases
from
our
suppliers.
The
cost,
so
our
OpEx
have
seen
an
underproportional
increase
and
this
despite
the
investments
we do in
our
strategic
projects,
which
we
communicated
quite
a
while
ago
already.
The
absolute
EBIT
increased
by
roughly
10%
and
EBIT
margin
remained
stable,
this
despite
the
ramp-up
cost
of
the
new
activities,
which
we
also
communicated
later
on,
and
which
amounts
to
roughly
€3
million
in
2021.
Also,
during
the
Capital
Markets
Day,
we
announced
already that we
increased
our
financial
targets.
Later
on
in
this
presentation
I will also
again
give
a
wrap-up
in
regards
to
these
financial
targets.
I'm happy
to
announce
that
we,
as
part
of
our overall
ESG
strategy,
made
a
first
step
and
became
a
member
of
UN Global Compact. If
you
look
at
the
key
figures
there,
I
can
make
it
very
short.
Except
to
the
free
cash
flow
where
we
see
that
the
free
cash
flow
has
more
than
doubled
compared
to
the
previous
year
and
this
mainly
based
on
the
advance
payments
from
our
customers. Year
2021
for
all
the
other
key
figures
ranks
number
two
after
the
last
pre-COVID
year
2019.
If
we
look
back
three
years,
the
net
revenues,
EBIT
and
also
net
profit
is
slightly
below
2019. But
the
conclusion of
this
is
that
despite
the
challenges
we
have
in
global
supply
chain,
2021
was
a
very
successful
financial
year. If
you
look into
more details
and
have
a
look
at
the
income
statement,
there
we
see
that
the
bookings
went
up
by
almost
45%
or,
in
other
words,
€186
million,
coming
to
bookings
level
of
€603
million,
never
seen
figure
at
Kardex
in
the
history.
And
there,
we
achieved
a
book-to-bill
ratio
of
1.3.
The
order
backlog
also
went
up
by
66.5%
to
almost
€370
million.
And
this
€370
million,
they
stand
for
visibility
of
roughly 10
months.
The
net
revenues,
on
the
other
hand,
also
grew
double
digits
to
10.3%,
but
not
at
the
same
pace
as
I
mentioned
before.
There,
we
could
achieve
in
absolute
figures
plus
of
€43
million.
And
the
reason
for
this
slower
pace,
as
I
mentioned
before already,
is
the
non-availability
of
components
and
in
the
first half
of
the
year
of
raw materials. Gross
profit
went
up
by
€10.3
million
or
by
roughly
7%
and
there
we
see
the
impact
I
mentioned
before,
so
the
gross
profit
margin
levels
went
slightly
down
by
1.2
percentage
points.
Also
here
due
to
inefficiencies
in
our
production
processes
and
due
to
price
increases
from
our
suppliers,
which
we
could
not
immediately
hand
over
to
our
customers.
On
the
OpEx
on
the other
hand,
the
growth
rate
is
only in
brackets
4.8%.
There
we
still
had
positive
impacts
due
to
the
travel
restrictions,
so
if
you
want
the
positive
effects
of
the COVID
crisis,
this
led
to
a
lower
level
of
travel
cost
and
also
lower
level
of
trade
fair
cost.
Resulting
EBIT
amounts
to
€61.1
million
being an
up of
10.1%
or
€5.6
million
and
we
see
that
EBIT
margin
is
exactly
on
the
same
level
as
2020. If
we
look at
the
second
page
of
the
income
statement,
there
we
had
a
positive
impact
on
the
financial
result
level.
There
we profited
from
positive
impact
from
cash
management
of
roughly €400,000.
The
tax
rate
went
up
quite
heavily
if
we
compare
to
the
previous
year,
but
this
is
mainly
based
because
2020
we
had
extraordinary
positive
impact
because
of
tax
losses
carried
forwards.
So
the
current
tax
rate
of
26.7%
is
exactly
in
the
range
of
the
tax
rate
we
communicated
earlier,
the
range
amounts
to
26.5%
to
27.5%.
Result
for
the
period
amounted
to
€43.7
million,
represents
a
margin
level
of
9.6%,
slightly
below
previous
year's
level
but comparably
good. Based
on
the
good
result
for
the
period,
the
board
will
propose
an
increased
payout
to
the
shareholders
of
CHF
4.30
per
share.
The
proposal
will
be
done
at
the
Annual
General
Meeting,
which
will
be
held
in
April.
Now
having a
look
at
the
balance
sheet,
there
we
have
two
main
effects.
One
of
this
is
the
increased
equity
based
on
the
result
for
the
period
and
also
the
advance
payments,
which
went
on
quite
dramatically, advanced payments
from
our
customers.
This
leads
to
an
expanded
balance
sheet.
This
then
as
a
conclusion
led
to
a
reduced
equity
ratio.
Last
year,
we
had
an
equity
ratio
of
62.9%
and
this
year
down
to
57.4%
but
on
absolute
basis
you
see
that
we
almost
increased
the
equity
level
by
€20 million.
What
you
also
see
here in
the
balance
sheets
that
we
did
some
reallocation
of
our
cash
position.
This
mainly
due
to
prevent
negative
interest
rate
effects.
If
you
go
further
to
the
cash
flow
statements,
there
again
we
see
the
very
good
free
cash
flow
of
€51.4
million.
This
is
almost
a
bit
more
than
double
than
the
free
cash
flow
we
achieved
the
year
before.
And
this
is
mainly
due
to
the increased
advance
payments
from
our
customers.
This
level
went
up
year-by-year
by
€35
million,
so
we
achieved
to
increase
the cash
level
from
our
customers
by
€35
million.
If
we
look
at
the
operating
performance,
so
what
I
look
at
is
the
net
cash
flow
from
operating
activities
before
changes
in
current
fixed
term
deposits.
So,
the
sum
of
the
€38.6
million
and
the
€41
million,
this
amounts
to
roughly
€80
million
operating
performance
in
regards
to
cash
flow.
And
if
you
compare
this
to
the
roughly
€50
million
of
2020, this
is
an
up
of €30
million,
which
is
quite
a
substantial
increase.
What
I
always
like
to
do
is
compare
the
current
performance
with
the
pre-COVID
years.
So,
here,
this
is
why
I
brought
with
me
the
income
statement
of
2021
compared
with
2019.
There
we
see
that
the
bookings
went
up
by
one-third
even
compared
with
the
pre-COVID
area.
The
order
backlog
went
up
by
roughly
70%
whereas
we
have
in
2019
visibility
of
roughly
bit
more
than
six
months.
Now
as
I
mentioned
before,
it
went
up
to
10
months,
but
you
also
see
that
the
net
revenues
level,
we
have
not
achieved
the
level
of
pre-COVID,
so
we
are
down
by
roughly
3%
or
€16
million
and
we
are
also
are
below
at
the
pre-COVID
level
in
regards
to
gross
profit
margin
where we
are
0.5%
points
behind
2019
levels.
In
the
OpEx
level,
we
see
that
we
became
more
efficient
where
we
spent
in
2019
22.9% of
our net
revenues in OpEx. Now,
it
went down
to 22.4%, but
we
need
to
keep
in
mind
that
we
still
have
positive
impacts
due
to
the
COVID
crisis,
as
I
mentioned
before.
EBIT level,
also
there
you
see
that
we
are
roughly
4%
behind
2019.
But
as
I
mentioned
before,
we
also
had
in
2019
special
effect
of
our
new
activities,
so
the
ramp-up
costs
of
our
new
activities.
This
amounts
to
€3
million.
And
if
I
add
up
this
€3
million
to
the
61.1%
in
2021,
then
there
is
an
easy
calculation
that
we
are
above
2019
and
also
the
EBIT
margin
goes
up
to
14.1%,
which
is
above
the
2019
level.
Now
having
a
look
at
the
financial
talks,
new
financial
targets,
which
have
been
published
during
the
Capital
Markets
Day
in
November
last
year,
there
we
see
that
we
-overall
we
increased
the
targets.
On
the
other
hand,
we
reduced
the
bandwidth
for
[ph]
the spend
(00:12:54)
for
the
two
– for
the
EBIT
margin
and
financial
targets
of
the
two
divisions,
Kardex
Remstar
and Kardex
Mlog.
Main
reason
to
reduce
this
bandwidth
is
that
even
though we
went
through
this
COVID-19
crisis,
we
remained
at
the
upper
end
of
this
range
we
communicated
earlier.
And
that's
the reason
why
we
reduced
this
bandwidth.
We
also
introduced
a bandwidth
for
the
Kardex
Group,
and
we
replaced
the
return
on
capital
employed
by return
on
invested
capital,
mainly
to
improve
the
comparability
with all
the
companies.
On
the
other hand,
the
dividend
policy,
as
well
as
the
debt
factor
remains
the
same.
With
this,
I
would
like
to
hand
over
to
Jens.
Well,
good
evening, good afternoon
and
good
morning
to
go
with
the
sun.
This
is
Jens
speaking
and
as
always
I
will
briefly
explain
the
performance
of
the
two
divisions.
I
will
start
with
Kardex
Remstar,
then
follow
with
Kardex
Mlog,
one
slide
about
the
new
affiliates
or
the
new
kits
and
last not
least
the
outlook,
which
is
probably
the
hardest
slide
today
for
all
of
us.
Looking
back
into
2021,
Kardex
Remstar
had
quite
a
strong
performance
in
bookings
as
we
can
see.
And
what
I'm
happy
to
say
is
that
it's
not
only
in
LCS,
in
life cycle
services,
which
is
typically
a
stronghold
for
us,
but
it
also
has
seen
substantial
increase
in
new
business
bookings,
so
new
customers,
new
segments
and
new
volumes,
a
total
of
€460
million
or
an
increase
of
40.7%
over
2020.
Similar
to
what
Thomas
just
said,
we
also
compared that
to
2019
levels,
and
the
bookings
are
also
substantially
higher
than
in
2019.
So
both
comparisons
work
out
quite
well.
And
this
is
mainly
due
to
the
new
business
bookings,
which
had
been
slightly
lower
in
2019 and
now
we
picking
up
there
as
well.
Net
revenues,
I
think
we
keep
repeating
ourselves,
they trail
the
bookings.
We
did
not
materialize
our
net
revenues
as
we
wanted
it
to
be,
mostly
due
to
the
already
mentioned
supply
chain
challenges,
material
availability
and
not
so
much
of
pricing,
but
the
availability
of
parts,
components
from
all
over
the
world.
And
also
due
to
sometimes and
that
was
valid
for
the
second
part
of
the
year
restrictions
to
customer
sites
again
due
to
the
pandemic.
Omicron
has
played
quite
a
substantial
role
here. We
have
had
to
postpone
or
even
cancel
certain
installations
and
move
them
into
2022.
As
a
result,
on
one
hand,
good
news,
because
it
increases
the
visibility,
but
on
the
other
hand,
not
so
good
news
because
it
means
not
enough
net
revenues
in
2021.
We
take
a
order
backlog
of
€238
million
into
2021,
a
record
high
order
backlog
which,
if
we
really
get
the
materials
should
provide
for
extremely
good
base
for
2022
net
revenues.
Higher
cost of
material,
already
mentioned
by
Thomas
hit
Kardex
Remstar
very
hard.
Inefficiencies
due
to
shortages
of
materials
led
to
inefficiencies
not
only
in
the
factories,
mostly
in
the
factories
where
we
had
scheduled
people,
trucks
and this
material
did
not
arrive,
so
we
had
to
send
people
home.
That's
what
we
call
inefficiencies
on
one
hand,
but
the
same
applies
to
inefficiency
in
the
field where
we
had
scheduled
service
calls
or
installation
crews,
and
they,
on
short
notice,
could
not
enter
the
sites,
the
customer
site
and
thus
effectively
had
to
go
home without
productive
work
and
that
led
to
a
slightly
reduced
gross
profit
margin
of
39.6%
versus
40.8%.
EBIT
margin
still
in
the
upper
range
of
our
communicated
ranges
with
16.6%.
So
given
the
lower-than-expected
net
revenues,
I
think
we
managed
the
cost
in
the
total
organization
quite
well
and
managed
to
secure,
the
bottom
line
is
16.6%.
Number
of
employees
increased
to
1,628.
What's
worth
mentioning
here
is
that
we
are
short
of
people
that
we
actually
need
to
do
the work
that
we
have
in
the
organization
by
about
100 positions.
If
you
look
at
the
total
Kardex Remstar
world
which
is
a portray
or
reflection
of
the
current
talent
market,
which
is
actually
pretty
scarce,
so
no
matter
where
we
look
in
the
world,
we
have
severe
problems
to
actually
get
the
required
level
of
people
of
competency
into
our
organization.
And
I
would
say
not
because
we
are
not
attractive
as
Kardex,
it's
simply
because
people
are
probably
not
available.
And
last not
least,
I
think
the
bookings
and
the
success
of
new
business
in
particular
in
Kardex
Remstar
was also
a result
and
a
positive
result
of
our
strategy
to
focus
on
target
industry
segments.
I
think
we
communicated
this
a
number
of
times
in
the
Capital Markets
Day
on
previous
presentations
made
to
you
guys
that
we
wanted
to
focus
on
industry
segments
to
become
better
specialists
in
certain
industry
segments
and
that
started
to
pay
off.
Wholesale,
retail,
e-commerce
to
mention
one
but
also
healthcare
and
hospitals
as
we
already
explained,
special
applications
in
these
industry
segments,
which
help
improve
our
position
in
this
industry
segment
and
provide
better
solutions
for
our
customers
in
these
sectors.
Over to
the
next
page,
you
see
the
key
figures
for
Kardex
Remstar
from
2017 through
to
2021.
We
see
the
net
revenue
level
compared
to
previous
year,
but
also
to
2019,
even
behind
2019
numbers,
with
€365
million versus
€392 million.
On
EBIT,
we
are
almost
on
–
back
to
2019
levels
of
€60.5 million
versus
€61.4 million.
Net
revenues
mix,
not
a
mistake,
it's
really
exactly
the
same
split,
we
did
verify
this
quite
carefully.
It's
really
the
same
net
revenues
mix,
as
in
2020.
And
the
geographical
split
has
also
not
changed
too
much,
the
tick
1%
up
in
the
North
American
market.
We
lost
a
little
bit
in
Asia
Pacific
on
the
overall
numbers
and
Europe
being
extremely
stable
from
a
development
point
of
view.
Over
to
Kardex
Mlog, looking
back
at
a
very
difficult
year
last
year. If you
remember
we have
the
one-off
effect
that
actually
impacted
our
results.
Kardex
Mlog actually
picked
up
quite
a
lot
in
terms
of
bookings,
€124
million,
that's
the
number
I
have
not
seen
in
my
time
with
Kardex,
for
Kardex
Mlog,
pretty
strong
in
new
business
and
also
in
terms
of
net
revenues
Kardex
Mlog
increased
a
fair
bit
38%
and
also
22%.
LCS
bookings
net
revenues
and
gross
profit
have
also
seen
some
slight
improvement
in
Kardex
Mlog.
So
the
focus
on
life
cycle
services
pays
off
also
there.
Order
backlog,
with
these
booking
numbers
substantially
increased
to
€110
million,
so
this
is
not
just
for
2022,
this
is
projects
also
stretching
into
2023
to
put
this
in
perspective.
Longer
running
projects
of
integrated
systems
that
typically
have
lead
times
or
realization
times
of
more
than 12
months
just
to
put
that
in
perspective.
But
€110 million
is
also
a
record
high
number.
Gross
profit
margin
improved
by
1%,
which
is
also
a
good
achievement
for
Kardex
Mlog.
EBIT
margin,
the
6.6%
in
the
medium
target
range
that
Thomas
explained
before,
4%
to
8%.
So
we
are
a
little
above
the
middle,
substantial
improvement
over
2020,
keeping
in
mind
that
2020
had a
one-off
write-off.
So
we
are –
like-for-like,
we
are probably on
the
same
levels.
Sales
funnel,
that's
the
good
news
in
terms
of
looking
into
2022,
the
sales
funnel
remains
strong.
The
order
intake
start
to
the
year
is
also
pretty
good.
For
Kardex
Mlog,
it
seems
that
the
market
holds
up,
the
market
trends
for
automation
and
demand
for
Mlog
solutions
and
by
the
way
also
for
Remstar
solutions,
I
[ph]
didn't
(00:23:04) mention
it, they
remain
fairly
stable
and
supportive
of
our
development.
Number
of
employees
in
Kardex
Mlog
also
increased
a
bit
by
6%.
Also
here
the
struggle
with
the
same
challenges,
in
the
– especially
in
the
German
market
to
get
the
right
talent
onboard
and
that
will
accompany
us
for
the
years
to
come and
I'm
sure
the
scarcity
of
available
talent. What's
also
worth
mentioning
is
that
we
won
the
first
protects
with Mlog
with
the
new
technologies
Rocket
and
AutoStore,
which
is
[ph]
new (00:23:45),
so
we
managed
to
have
Mlog
as
an
indicator
for
either
of
these
two
new
technologies
that
we
presented
in
the
Capital
Markets
Day
as
our
new
technology
acquisitions.
Key figures,
I
already
mentioned
that
revenues
being
above
2020 and
also
2019.
EBIT
and
EBIT
margin
not
quite
on
EBIT
margin
level
of
2019,
but
in
absolute
terms
higher
than
2019.
Net
revenues
mix,
what
looks
like
a
little
drop
here
from
38%
to
30%
of
life
cycle
services
is
due
to
us
reassigning
some
of
the
business
that
previously
was
reported
under
life
cycle
services,
now,
under
new
business. We
have
a
business
line
there,
which
is
called
refurbishment,
so
existing
installations
of
customers
where
we
do
modernization,
upgrades
and
refurbishment
and
we
decided
that
some
of
these
projects
are
not
really
service
projects,
they
are
more
like
new
business
projects.
Therefore,
they
have
been
reallocated
to
the
blue,
the
70%
and
that's
why
it
looks
like
we
did
shrink.
In
factual
terms,
we
did
not
shrink,
we
did
largely
increase
also
our
service
business
compared
to
2020. And
the
geographical
split
almost
the
same,
except
that
Europe
has
actually
picked
up,
was
83%
over
80%
in
2020.
What
we
need
to
mention
here
is
also
there
is
one-off
sometimes
in
parts
of
this
world,
which
somehow
impact
the –
given
the
relatively
low
numbers,
which
impact
the
distribution
of
revenues
all
over
the
world.
Next
page,
very
short
summary
of
our
new
activities.
The
new
activities
being
AutoStore
business,
Robomotive
and
Rocket
Solution.
We
did
already
mention
in
our
statement
today
that
we
have
about
€30 million
bookings
with
these
three
new
companies
or
ventures
achieved,
of
which
€19.1
million
are
shown
in
our
consolidated
results.
The
AutoStore
business
is
fully
consolidated
in
the
Kardex
reporting.
Robomotive
is
consolidated
in
our
financials.
Rocket
Solution
given
that
we
had
a
minority
share
there
is
not
at
all
consolidated
in
our
numbers.
And
if
we
summarize
our
ramp-up
costs,
ramp-up
costs
being
mostly
people
that
we build
up
organizational –
organizations
that
we
build
up,
like
in
AutoStore,
the
sales
teams,
realization
teams
where
revenue
is
not
fully
covering
all
the
total
cost
add
up
to
about
€3
million
in
2021.
And
if
we
eliminate
that,
you
can
also
see
that
the
total
EBIT
of
Kardex
without
these
extra
costs
would
have
exceeded
the
previous
years
by
quite
a
bit.
All
right, now –
I
already
mentioned
in
the
beginning
the
most
difficult
slide
for
all
of
us.
I
think
you're
hearing
the
same
story
wherever
you
attend
a
video
conference
these
days.
I
think
so
far
we
see
positive
market
conditions
which
should,
under
normal
circumstances,
support
a
pretty
positive
bookings
development.
Start
of
the
year
was,
as
I
said,
pretty
promising.
So
it
seems
to
be
relatively
little
impact
so
far
in
January
and
February
from
the
external
environment,
even
though
the
supply
chain
issues
continue
to
be
a
major
problem.
Based
on
the strong
backlog,
we
expect
also
both
divisions
to
show
increased
net
revenues
in
2022
over
2021,
that's
pretty
logical.
If
we
look
at
the
backlog
numbers
of
both
Remstar
and
Mlog,
they
have
to
carry
forward
into
– increased
net
revenues
unless
something
completely
breaks
apart.
The
only
major
concern,
like
probably
all
others
have,
except
maybe
for
the
political
environment,
is
supply
chain
shortages,
which
compared
to
Q4
and
Q3
of
2021,
actually
increased in
terms
of
shortages,
problems
and
uncertainties
from
our
main
suppliers,
who
sometimes
don't
even
commit
to
delivery
dates,
never
mind
delivery
volumes.
So
that
seems
to
be
on
the
increasing
side
rather
than
the
declining
side
and
that
is
if
I
would
have
to
mention
one
main
topic
that
is
the
main
concern
for
all
of
us
in
terms
of
reliability
of
expectations
towards
net
revenues
and
results. Nevertheless,
as
we
strongly
believe
in
the
future
of
the
intralogistics
market,
we
will
continue
with
our
key
strategic
elements
for
Kardex's
portfolio
extension.
So
first step
will
be
to
develop
these
three
new
activities
from
the
previous
page
into
stronger
organizations,
into
more
sustainable
operations,
increase
bookings,
but
also
improve
results
of
these
three
companies.
And
then
look
further
with
our
strategic
activities
whether
we
can
find
similar
add-ons
to
Kardex's
portfolio
that
help
us
to
serve
the
intralogistics
market
and
our
customers
even
better. By
the
same
token,
as
we
believe
in
the
future
of
intralogistics
and
Kardex, we
continue
with
our
strategic
investments
in
our
supply
chain, I
would
say
refurbishment
of
our
supply
chain
in
Remstar,
the
expansion
of
our
supply
chain
in
Remstar,
we
invest
into
technology
so
new
products
for
the
Remstar
portfolio
and
also
into
digitalization.
And
last not
least,
we
see
current
challenges,
but
we
believe
that
for
the
mid
to
long
term
Kardex
is
well
positioned
to
benefit
from
the
global
intralogistics
automation
trends,
increased
demand
for
automation
due
to
shortages
of
labor
because
what
we
suffer
from
is
also
what
our
customers
suffer
from
and
they
need
automation
to
help
their
logistics
parts
so
we
believe
the
future
is
pretty
bright
despite
the
current
challenges
that
we
are
suffering.
And
with
that,
I'd
like
to
hand
over
or
hand
back
to
Edwin.
Yes. Thank
you
very
much,
Jens.
Thank
you.
Thank
you very
much,
Thomas
for
going through
the
figures
and
going through
the
business
and
give
us
an
outlook.
May
I hand
over
now
to
the
operator,
please,
to
start
the
Q&A
session?
We
will
now
begin
the
question-and-answer
session.
[Operator Instructions]
The
first
question is
from
Remo
Rosenau
from
Helvetische
Bank.
Please
go
ahead.
Yeah,
hi,
thank
you.
Good
afternoon.
Could
you
give
us
any
insight
about
the
split
of
the
growth
in
2021
between
price
and
volumes?
Hello,
Remo,
yes,
that's
a
question
for
me.
And
the
effect
of
our
price
increase
is
not
very
substantial.
If
you
look
at
the
sales maybe
in
the
net
revenues
level,
we
see
there
an
impact
of
around
1%,
which
is
based
on
our
price
increases.
If
you look
at
the
bookings
levels
there,
the
impact
is
a
bit
higher,
because
we
– the
growth
rate
is
higher
and
there
we
see
an
impact
of
around
2%.
Does
that
answer
your
question?
Yes.
And
I
mean
your
gross
margin
only
came
down
1-point-something-percent.
So
it's
actually
quite
a
low
impact
given
that
you
increased
prices
only
slightly.
Was
that
all
compensated
by
internal
efficiency
measures
or
could
you
go
into
that
a
bit?
Remo, I must admit, I
did
not
understand
your
question.
Can
you
say
it in
other
words?
Yeah.
Well,
the
gross
margin
only
declined
by
[ph]
one
hundred
I
think
30 (00:33:40)
basis
points.
Yeah.
Given
the
input
price
increases
in
general,
I
mean
not
only
raw
materials,
there
was
the
transportation
cost
and
everything,
it
seems
like
a
pretty
low
decline
of
the
gross
margin
given
that
you
only
increased
your
prices
in
average
by
1%
in
your
sales.
So...
No.
No.
We
did
not.
Sorry,
this
was
a
misunderstanding.
Yeah.
Our
pricing,
we
communicated
this
already.
In
2021,
we
applied
two
price
increases.
One was
in May,
where
we
increased
prices
by
4%
[indiscernible]
(00:34:22).
These
4%
are
only
effective
after
a
certain
time
lag.
This
time
lag
is
around
four
to
six
months.
So
you
can
consider
that
this
price
increase
has
only
hit
– only
had
a
positive
impact
during
the
second
half of
the year.
Then
in
December,
we
increased
the
prices
again
by
roughly
6%.
But
this
has
no
impact
at
all
on
the
level
of
net
revenues,
a
bit
on
bookings
and
this
is
the
reason
why
I
said,
if
you
look
at
the
P&L
currently,
2021,
and
you
look
at
the
net
revenues
in
2021,
then
you
can
consider
the
increase
of
the
net
revenues
compared
to
last
year
is
impacted
by
1%
from
our
price
increase.
Same
on
bookings
level,
the
increase
there
is
impacted
by
roughly
2%
from
our
price
increase.
This
was
my
statement,
sorry,
I
misunderstood
your
initial
question.
Okay.
Well,
that
means
that
the
price
increases
will
have
a
stronger
impact
in
2022 than
in
2021,
right,
because
of the
timing?
Yes,
they
will.
But
at
the
same
time,
our
suppliers
have
increased
prices
already
again
so
we
are
confronted
with
quite
substantial
price
increase
from
our
suppliers
now
in
the
beginning
of
the
year
2022
already.
This
as
a
first
indication,
I
mean,
this
depends
from
supplier
to
supplier,
but
this
is
around
8%.
This
was
the
communication
we
already
have
from
our
suppliers.
So
there
you
see
that
in
a
market
where
prices
increase
from
our
suppliers,
we
always
are
behind
with
our
price
increase.
So
the
effect
will
[indiscernible]
(00:36:18) be
negative
until
the
prices
will
stabilize,
and
only
then
and after
a
certain
time
lag as
I
mentioned
before,
four
to
six
months,
then
we
will
have
– see
a
positive
impact
on
the
whole P&L.
That's
perfectly
clear.
But,
first
you
try
to
estimate
how
sales
could
develop
and
there
the
price
effect
is
one
of
the
elements
and
then
you've
got
the
volumes,
right?
So
one
element,
pricing
will
be
substantially
higher
just
looking
at
sales
not
at
margins
and everything
than
in
2021.
So
you
said
you
increased
4%
at
one
stage. When was
it
again
exactly?
4%
and
then
6%
or
even
more?
Could
you
just
give...
May and December.
4%
May,
6%
December.
Okay.
So...
Looking
forward
as
mentioned
1%
for
sales
and
2%
for
bookings
they will go up.
That's
clear.
On
the
other
hand,
the
impact
on
the
gross
profit
level
will
also
go
up.
[indiscernible]
(00:37:30)
...volume
driver
will
remain
and
there
will
be
a
volume
driver
in
regards
to
our
price
increases,
but
we
will
also
have
the
negative
impact
on
the
gross
profit margin.
[ph]
This is
also
related (00:37:43).
Yes.
So
all
in
all,
you
will
have
some
stronger
price
impact,
you
will have
– still,
I
mean
you
expect
higher
volumes,
right,
to
some
extent if
things
remain
more
or
less
normal,
however,
the
margin
will
be
somewhat
under
pressure,
the
EBIT
margin
at
the
end of
the
day?
That's
perfect
summary
of
our
discussion now.
Okay.
[indiscernible]
(00:38:10)
in
2021,
Remo, we
have
the
same
in
2021
prices
going
up or
the
inflation
going
up
quickly,
and
we
are
only
able
to
react
later
on
so
the
selling –
so
going
up
with
prices
in
May
means
selling
machines
at
that
higher
price
as
of
September,
October,
but
then
still
continuing
prices
of
what you ever buy
and
that
continues
and
it will
only
stop – it
will
only
stabilize
when
this
whole
cycle
is
stabilized
and
then
it
takes
four
to
six
months to be able to see it.
Okay.
And
now
about
the
ramp-up
costs,
will
they
reoccur,
get
higher
or
be
offset
by
the
revenues
and
the
contributions
of
these
businesses
or
what
should
we
think
about
this?
For
these
three
new
ventures,
we
plan
to
reduce
them
in
the
current
year
because
we
expect
that
increasing
revenues,
I
mean
we
reported
on
bookings
for
2021.
These
bookings
should
turn
into
revenues
and
that
will
offset
your
organizational
costs
so
we
expect
that
they
should
not
be
at
the
same
level
like
in
2021.
So
we
don't
expect
another
€3
million
for
these
three
companies.
If
we
have
another
venture
that
would
add
up
again,
but
so
far
there
is none.
Okay.
That
should have a...
So
still
some...
...like,
positive
impact
on
EBIT.
Okay.
So
still
some
impact
but
lower
and
that
is on
the
net
level.
So...
Yeah.
...adding up
what
comes
in
and
what
you
invest
in
there.
Yes.
Okay.
Okay.
Yeah.
Okay.
So
I
mean,
the
EBIT
margins,
it's
anybody's
guess,
I
mean, it's
very
difficult
to
say,
but
it
could
be
under
pressure
by
anything
between
50
and
200 basis
points.
Anybody's
guess
as
you
said.
But
you wouldn't
exclude
also
the
higher
number.
Remo,
very
clearly
that's –
it's
a
wrong
answer,
but
it's
not
my
biggest
concern.
If
we
get
our
supply
chain
back
in
operation
and
in
operation,
I
mean,
if
this
global
supply
chain
and
the
shortages
of
material
will
not be
an
issue
anymore,
then
we
will
not
talk
about
EBIT
margins.
If
we
continue
to
see
the
problems
and
we
have
suppliers
like
Siemens
who
do
not
commit
to
delivery
days
before
60
weeks,
I mean,
we
just
need
to
think
about
it. It
is
more
than
a
year
and
we don't
get
any
commitment
that
is
for
us
the
operational
day-to-day
challenge,
I've
never
seen
my
purchasing
so
busy
like
the
last
year,
and
this
continues.
And
what
effect
that
will
have
in
terms
of
stoppages
of
production,
maybe
inefficiencies
in
our
supply
chain,
that's
very
hard
to
assess
because
it's
really
much
dependent
on
how
long
this
supply
chain
issue
continues
to
be
an
issue.
Okay.
No.
Very
clear.
Fair
enough.
Thank
you very
much.
Welcome.
The
next
question
is
from
Stefanie
Scholtysik
from
Mirabaud.
Please
go
ahead.
Yes.
Hello,
everyone.
I
mean,
you
stated
in
your
press
release
that
you
have
underutilization
of
your
production
run
in
the
US
and
if
I
understood
it
rightly
like
everywhere
and
that
underutilization,
is
this
mainly
because
of
labor
shortages
or
is
it
because
you
don't
have
the
components
you
need
for
production
or
is
it
both?
And
then
also
maybe
what
you
expect
in
terms
of
wage
inflation
going
forward?
I
mean,
that
sounds
like
a
real
big
issue
for
you
so
what
can
we
assume
in
terms
of
wage
increases
on
the
bottom
line?
First one
is
an
easy
answer
because
it's
both
of
them.
Stefanie, this is Jens.
Thanks. Hi.
It's
really
components
and
same
with
the
experience
in
our
European
factories,
the
experience
in
the
US
for
now.
So,
and
I
mean,
this
is
partly
– it
is
all
the
components,
it's
raw
material
like
steel,
but
it's
also
electronic
components.
It's
no
surprise,
it's
the
same
design
of
our
products, it's
a standard
design
using
the
same
components
in
these
machines
that
leads
to
the
same
challenges
and
the
procurement
market
in
the
US
is
almost
the
same
like
is in
Europe
at
least
in
our
experience.
And
labor
shortages
is
also
something,
this
is
very
funny
– not
funny,
but
it
is
really
a
challenge.
People
opt
out
from
hard
work
in
the
US
these
days.
I
spoke
to
one
of
my
colleagues
in
the
US
and
he
said,
people
now
rather
go
work
with
McDonald's
because
they
pay
excessive
hourly
rates.
I'm
not
kidding,
it's
just
something
that
seems
to
come
up
now
new.
So,
it's
also
a
challenge
to
get
the
people
onboard.
We
are
in
the
process
to –
and
then,
also
loyalty
of
people.
They
come
for
couple
of
days
and
they're
gone
again.
So,
we
go –
I
think
we
go
through
all
the
learnings
that
other
companies
have
made
there
as
well.
But
I
think
we're
now
reaching
a
point
where
we
at
least
see a
stable
organization
going
forward
and
now
it's
about
getting
the
parts
in
and
ramping
the
production
up.
And
we
also had
some
challenges,
to
be
fair,
with
our
ERP
system
there.
So,
that
is
also
an
element.
Our
S/4HANA,
which
contributes
a
bit
but
that's
not
the
major
blockage.
It's
really
the
availability
of
parts
and
getting
the
operation
up
and
running.
Second
was,
wage
increases.
That's
an
interesting
topic. We
have
our
averages
that
we
assume
for
the
year,
which
typically what
we
do
in
the
budget
periods,
we
expect
increased
wages,
salary
levels,
which
we
typically
expect
to
be
offset
by
productivity
gains.
So,
that
is
our
rule
of
thumb.
Whatever
the
increase
in
terms
of
salaries,
we
typically
offset
with
revenue
increases
and/or
efficiency
increases.
That's
our
typical
target
in
the
organization.
So,
straight,
it
should
not
have
a
direct
bottom
line
impact.
However,
in
this
scarce
market,
it
may
be
that
we
are
confronted
with
higher-than-normal
salary
requests
by
certain
talent
and
that's
where
we
need
to
be
careful
in
terms
of
who
we
opt
for,
whether
we need
the
competent
and
we
probably
have
to
pay
a
little
more
than
in
the
years
before
that's
currently
the
situation
and
it
varies –
interesting
enough,
it
varies
by
region.
The
demand
in
the
US
is
substantially
higher,
so
the
demands
in
terms
of
salary
levels
and
salary
expectations.
Demands
in
Europe,
mostly
in
our
manufacturing
is
typically
driven
by
the
unions
and
I'm
not
sure
they
came
up
with, I'm
not sure,
did they
come
up with something like
4%
to
5%
demand?
US?
No,
here
in
Europe,
I
think
and
that
is
normally
negotiated
down
by
the
[ph]
employer
standard (00:46:18),
but
we
will
have
to
see.
Not
a
straight
answer
I
know,
some
of
it
could
carry
through
if
you
are
not
able
to
compensate
for
by
higher
sales
margins
and/or
higher
efficiencies.
Then
I
have
another
one
and
then
I'll
go
back
in
line.
I
was
a
bit
surprised
looking
at
your
CapEx
number,
so
you
actually
only
spent
€7
million
in
2021.
I
would
have
expected
something
like
around
€15
million.
Was
that
just
a
miscalculation
by
me
or
did
I
miss
something
or
did
you
put
something
on
hold
or
this
is
going
to
be
catched
up
later
or
in
this
year
or
in
2022
or
going
forward?
Maybe
can
you
give
us
some
indication
on
CapEx
in
2022?
Yeah,
sure.
Hi,
Stefanie. This
is
Thomas.
Hey.
That's a
question
for
me.
It
is
a
mix.
On
one
hand
you did not
consider
all
the
CapEx,
so
the
total
CapEx
amounts to €10.1
million.
But
this
is
very
much
below
our
guidance.
We
guided
€18
million
with
the
half
year
result
presentation.
This
is
substantially
lower.
This
is
mainly
based
on
availability
of
resources.
So
postponement
of
projects
and
non-availability
of
resources,
so
we
wanted
to
go
forward
with
certain
projects,
but
did
not
achieve
to
get
the
resources,
so
the
construction
company
did
not
show
up
or did have
lower
delivery
times.
The
machine
delivery
takes
longer
and
this
is
a
clear
sign,
so. It
is
simply
postponed,
so
it's
not
decreased.
So
we
will
see
higher
CapEx
in
the
upcoming
years.
Okay,
thanks
a
lot.
So
how
much
CapEx
would
you
then
expect
in
2022?
Yeah,
2022 it's
expected
with
high
uncertainty
in
regards
to the
availability,
we
expect
around
€20
million
for
2022.
Okay.
Thanks
a
lot.
[Operator Instructions]
The
next
question
is
from
Sebastian
Vogel
from
UBS.
Please
go
ahead,
sir.
Hello
and
good
afternoon.
I
wanted
to
come
back
to
the
new
ventures
that
you
have
outlined
in
the
slide
deck
before.
By
when
do
you
expect
to
see
a
positive
EBIT
contribution
from
this
ventures
on
your
P&L?
That
would
be
my
first
question.
The
second
question
is
on
price
increases,
what
are
your
plans
there
for
2022?
Do
you
have
something
or
you
already
planned
or
will
you
react
a
talk
here?
And
the
last
one
and
a third
one
would
be
on
inventory
levels,
it
seems
to
be
rather
low
for year-end.
I
was
wondering
what
is
there
behind
and
in
general, how
do
you
see
net
working
capital
for
2022?
Okay.
Just
shuffling
the
questions
around.
Hi,
Sebastian,
this
is
Jens.
Number
one
was
the
expectation
on
positive
contribution
of
our
new
kits.
Yes.
To
the
bottom
line,
it's
–
let
me
think,
it
should
be
late
as
2024 as
simple
as
that.
Got
it.
And now
the
second
was
price
increases. We
are,
of
course,
discussing
those
and
I
think
we
will
go
with
a
price
increase, I
think
we
discussed
something
like
next
month
to
– or,
April.
April
is
the
next
targeted
price
increase
that
we
are
currently
discussing
to
follow
suit
with
the
cost
increases
on
the
purchasing
side.
Hi,
Sebastian.
This
is
Thomas.
Third
question
is
for
me,
inventory
levels,
yes,
you
have
seen
it
correctly.
[indiscernible]
(00:50:52)
inventory
levels
went
down,
but
mainly
due
to
the advance
payments
from
our
customers.
The
net
working
capital
in
total
decreased
year-on-year
by
€24
million,
so
last
year
we
had
a
net
working
capital
of
€68
million,
now
this
amounts
to
€44
million,
so
quite
a
substantial
increase,
not
meaning that
our
inventory
levels
dramatically
went
down
in
2021
compared
to
2020.
But
as
I've said
before,
the
advance payments
from
our
customers
have
reduced the
inventory
levels.
The
expectation
going
forward,
this
will
go
up
clearly
because
we
received
the
cash
and
we
are
working
on
the
projects
and
then
we
are
going
to
deliver and
whenever
we
have
delivered, then
the
inventory
levels
will
be
neutralized
again.
So
you
can
consider
that
the
net
working
capital
will
go
up in the future.
Understood.
And
just
one
quick
follow-up
with
regard
to
the
price
increases.
When
you
said
it
will
follow
suit
to
the
price
increases
from
your
supplier,
I
guess
you
were
alluding
to
this
8%
you
mentioned
earlier
in
the
call,
right?
Unfortunately
not,
because
there
is
a
limit
to
what
our
customers
expect
the
level
of
sympathy
to
our
price
increases.
It's
relatively
low
because
they
suffer
from
same
things.
I
would
think
that
we
travel
between
4%
and
6%.
As
I
said,
we are in
discussion
with our
divisions
of
how
much
we
can
afford
before
we
start
losing
contracts
or
projects
due
to
the
two
heavy
price
increases.
Understood.
Many
thanks.
Welcome.
The
next
question
is from
[indiscernible]
(00:52:45) from
AWP.
Please
go
ahead.
Thanks
for
taking
my
question.
I
want
to
know
what
influence
does
the
current
war
have
for
Kardex?
Do
you
expect
to
further
deterioration
of
the
supply
chain
because
of
the
war?
First
of
all, the
direct
impact
to
our
top
line
would
be
relatively
low
or
very
low
to
be
specific.
Of
course,
we
currently
don't
sell
anything
in
the
Ukraine
and
almost
nothing
in
Russia.
The
other
version
is
a
good
one.
We
are
assessing
right
now
the
impact
on
supply
chains,
reason
being
that
some
of
the
suppliers
went
on
rail
instead
of
ship
and/or
plane,
and
that
could
have
a
shorter
term
impact
until
they
eventually
go
back
to
ship
or
to
planes
for
delivery
of
parts.
But
for
now,
we
are
in
the
evaluation,
I
mean
we
are
week
into
the
situation,
and
we
are
assessing
with our
procurement
guys
what
impact,
if
any,
we will
encounter
in
the
next
weeks
before
we
can
react
to
it
and
reschedule
things
in
terms
of
bringing
it
into
Europe.
If
I
can
add here,
we
already
assessed
if
we
have
a
direct
impact.
We
have
seen
that
we
have
no
major
supplier
either – nor
in
Ukraine nor in
Russia.
Thanks a lot.
Thank
you
very
much.
We
have
a
follow-up
question
from
Sebastian
Vogel
from UBS.
Please
go
ahead.
Actually,
there
will
be
two
follow-up
questions
if
I
may.
And
the
first
one
would
be,
how
do
you
see
demand
currently
in
terms
of
more
specific,
if
there's
something
on
the
positive
or
negative
side
related
to
particular
regions,
industries
or
customer
groups
that
you
could
share
with
us?
And
last
one
would
be
a little
bit
more
of
a
housekeeping
exercise.
Can
you
remind
me
of
the
FX
impact
on
the
Remstar
sales
that
you
have
seen
in
2021
please?
I'll
take the
easy first,
Sebastian.
This is
Thomas.
The
second
one, the
FX
impact
on
bookings
level
is
€3.5
million,
our
net
revenues
is
€2.5
million
and on
EBIT
level
is €500,000
negative
impact. Thank you.
Thanks.
And
that
means he
leaves
the
more
difficult
one
to
me.
I
think
I
understood
that
you
wanted
to
know
what
the
booking
or
the
channel
market
sentiment
is
by
region?
[indiscernible]
(00:55:42)
industries
that
are
standing
out
and
if
it
is
on the
retail or
on
the
logistics
side,
any
sort
of
stand
out
on
a
positive
or
negative
compared
to
what
you
expected
so
far?
No,
that
is
an
easy
answer.
No,
we
see
the
same
mix
in
segments
so
far.
It
was
not
– I
mean,
I
already
said
that
we
had
an
enjoyable
increase
in
wholesale, retail,
e-commerce
in
2021,
specifically
for
Remstar,
and
we
see
this
continue.
But
you
also
see
other
industry
segments
remain
strong
for
now.
And
therefore,
we
don't
see
a
shift.
We
don't
see
a
shift
in
this.
Thanks. That was
my
question.
Many
thanks.
Yeah.
There
are
no
more
questions
at
this
time.
Okay.
Then
thank
you very
much
everybody
for....