BAUER AG records positive start to the year

Total Group revenues increase significantly by 22.8% compared to the previous year, from EUR 417.9 million to EUR 513.0 million
At EUR 30.6 million, EBIT was significantly higher than the previous year’s value of EUR 4.1 million; at EUR 4.9 million, earnings after taxes increased significantly (previous year: EUR +1.6 million)
Order backlog continues at a high level with EUR 1,432.2 million (previous year: EUR 1,478.5 million)
Forecast for 2023 confirmed

Schrobenhausen, Germany – The BAUER Group had a positive start to 2023. At the end of the first quarter, total Group revenues increased significantly by 22.8%, from EUR 417.9 million to EUR 513.0 million. At EUR 30.6 million, EBIT for the Group was also significantly higher than the previous year’s value of EUR 4.1 million, as were earnings after taxes at EUR 4.9 million (previous year: EUR 1.6 million).

The Group’s order backlog remains at a high level, which only decreased slightly compared to the previous year, from EUR 1,478.5 million to EUR 1,432.2 million. The order intake decreased slightly by 6.0%, from EUR 532.0 million to EUR 500.2 million.

“We had a positive start to the financial year. In all three segments, we were able to increase both the revenue and earnings figures,” remarked Peter Hingott, Executive Board member of BAUER AG.

In the Construction segment, extensive projects in the Middle East in particular are responsible for a solid start to the year.

Business segments

With its three segments – Construction, Equipment and Resources – and a broadly diversified business model, Bauer addresses major global trends such as rapidly progressing urbanization, infrastructure expansion, water extraction and treatment as well as generally increasing environmental awareness.

At EUR 237.3 million, total Group revenues in the Construction segment were up significantly by 29.1% compared to the previous year’s value of EUR 183.8 million. EBIT was very significantly in the positive range at EUR 14.5 million compared to the same period in the previous year at EUR -2.6 million.

The increase in the revenue and earnings figures is driven by the large projects in the Middle East, particularly in Saudi Arabia. Overall, the operative performance in most markets was positive at the start of the year. Independently of this, work is still underway to optimize the international position and earnings growth. In this year as well, individual international subsidiaries will be closed.

Order backlog in the Construction segment fell only slightly by 1.0% from EUR 865.7 million in the previous year to EUR 857.1 million. This is well distributed around the world, with extensive orders in the inventory particularly in the Middle East. In Germany, a decrease has been recorded in the last several months. At EUR 241.8 million, the order intake rose significantly compared to the previous year’s EUR 204.1 million.

In the first quarter, total Group revenues in the Equipment segment increased considerably by 18.0%, from EUR 191.5 million to EUR 226.0 million, when compared to the previous year. EBIT also increased considerably compared to the previous year, from EUR 9.0 million to EUR 14.0 million, due to the increase in revenue.

The segment recorded a good start to the year and was able to continue the positive business performance of the last year. The market in China continues to be challenging.

Order backlog for the Equipment segment decreased slightly by 4.6%, from EUR 225.6 million in the previous year to EUR 215.2 million. Order intake decreased by 8.4% to EUR 219.2 million, compared to the very good figure of EUR 239.3 million in the previous year.

At EUR 68.1 million, total Group revenues in the Resources segment were up by 16.0% after the first quarter, compared to the previous year’s EUR 58.7 million. EBIT increased from EUR -1.3 million to EUR 2.7 million. The segment also had a good start to the new year. All business areas recorded positive development that was within expectations.

Order backlog decreased by 7.0% compared to the previous year, from EUR 387.2 million to EUR 359.9 million. The order intake decreased by 44.9% from EUR 104.7 million to EUR 57.7 million, as this period in the previous year included very large orders for the area of mining.

Equity development and delisting acquisition offer

The Group’s equity increased slightly from EUR 490.1 million to EUR 498.2 million, yet was considerably higher than the 2022 year-end level of EUR 402.3 million. Thus the Group’s equity ratio was 29.3% after the first quarter of 2023 (previous year: 28.8%). This was largely due to the capital increase carried out in March 2023. As a result of this, the shareholder structure of BAUER AG changed significantly. Since then, SD Thesaurus GmbH and Doblinger Beteiligung GmbH, which act together, hold 52.8% of the shares in BAUER AG. For this reason, SD Thesaurus GmbH will issue a mandatory offer to the remaining shareholders, which at the same time is also designed as a delisting acquisition offer. The Executive Board of BAUER AG decided in April 2023 to support the delisting sought by SD Thesaurus GmbH.

Outlook

“The good start to the year is a solid foundation, but does not change our cautious outlook for this year,” remarks Peter Hingott. The Executive Board’s outlook has not changed since publication of the 2022 Annual Report in April.

The largest uncertainty factors for the Group are high inflation, increased interest rates as well as raw material and energy prices, and the associated risk of a downturn in the economy. These issues will continue to be potential major influencing factors throughout the entire year, which may negatively influence the Group’s business as well as the business of equipment customers. This also applies to the weakening of the construction market in Germany.

For the 2023 financial year, the company therefore continues to expect a slight decrease in total Group revenues and EBIT between EUR 35 and 60 million.