“We can make a substantial contribution towards climate and environmental protection, especially in the area of decarbonization.”
Joachim Schönbeck, President & CEO
Letter from the Executive Board
Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,
dear Shareholders,
dear Colleagues,
2022 was a very special year for ANDRITZ. We were proud to be celebrating our 170th anniversary. 170 years of changing history where – between crises and wars – there was often a very fine line between success and failure, and where the determination, reliability and perseverance of all employees ultimately made ANDRITZ what it is today: a globally leading technology group with a long tradition and an excellent reputation among its customers all over the world.
Our company is outstanding due to its enormous diversity: the international ANDRITZ team with around 29,100 employees, companies rich in tradition – some of the companies in our group also celebrated special anniversaries in 2022 – combined with young, innovative startups, and the different customer markets we serve that have long-term growth potential. Tradition meets innovation!
This sense of tradition in conjunction with the will of our employees to constantly expand their capabilities and go the extra mile is another essential reason why ANDRITZ was able to close the 2022 business year with the best operating result in its 170-year history – in spite of the numerous
challenges, such as the war in Ukraine, the sanctions on Russia, the dramatic increase in energy and material prices, and the considerable disruptions in global supply chains.
As a result, revenue increased to a new record level of 7.5 billion euros in 2022. At over nine and and almost ten billion euros, respectively, order intake and order backlog also achieved new record levels. In spite of sharply rising procurement costs for raw materials and semi-finished goods, the Group’s profitability – the EBITA margin – amounted to 8.6% in 2022 and was thus higher than the peak value achieved in the previous year. Our staff in Purchasing have done excellent work in this field, just as our colleagues have done who are working on customer projects worldwide, pushing the execution of our orders forward largely on schedule in spite of all the adverse effects on supply chains and the travel restrictions still applying in places due to the COVID pandemic. Thank you to these great teams!
By acquiring the Sovema Group, Italy, and ĐURO ĐAKOVIĆ TERMOENERGETSKA POSTROJENJA d.o.o. (DD-TEP), Croatia, we have further extended our product portfolio in the e-mobility and renewable energy sectors.
Sovema is one of the leading international suppliers of manufacturing solutions for high-grade battery cells.Its customers include major companies in the automotive sector and some of the best-known battery manufacturers worldwide. Together with Schuler, Sovema will develop the machinery and systems that gigafactories all over the world need for mass production of lithium-ion batteries. These batteries must be available in large numbers if electromobility is to be a success.
DD-TEP supplies complete, turnkey power stations that produce power and heat from renewable biomass and waste. The company’s state-of-the-art production facilities offer highest quality in the manufacture of pressure parts and auxiliary boiler equipment.
I look to the 2023 business year with optimism. Our record order backlog gives us a solid workload for the coming year. On the one hand, the focus lies on executing our customer orders on schedule, and on the other, on creating sustainable organic growth. We intend to achieve this by continuing to push ahead with our research and development work. The main focus here is to expand and further develop the extensive range of sustainable products and solutions that we provide to help our customers achieve their sustainability goals.
With our four business areas serving many different industries that have long-term megatrends such as renewable energy sources, decarbonization, e-mobility and the circular economy, we have four solid foundations and are well positioned strategically for the future. We can make a substantial contribution towards climate and environmental protection, especially in the area of decarbonization. Here we should mention our turbines and generators for hydropower plants, recovery and biomass boilers for generating renewable energy, technologies for the production of biomethanol and for carbon capture from flue gases, products for electromobility and the circular economy, production technologies for alternative proteins, and our developments in connection with green hydrogen, among other products. And in terms of the digitalization megatrend, we have a broad product offering in our Metris platform, which targets current market needs with remote maintenance, process optimization, digital twins and cyber security, opening up large opportunities for us in the future.
But we also have our own ambitious goals in terms of sustainability. By 2025, we intend to halve our CO₂ footprint compared to 2019 and also significantly reduce water consumption and the amount of waste produced. We are on the right track here and have already implemented many measures. An important step was taken when our locations in Austria and Germany switched entirely to green energy. Another will be achieved when we fit out our production shops with photovoltaic systems.
In addition to focusing on organic growth, the acquisition of companies that complete or complement our product portfolio remains one of our main goals. With gross liquidity of slightly above two billion euros and high generation of free cash flow, we have sufficient financial means to seize suitable opportunities to acquire additional companies at any time.
I would like to express my warmest thanks personally to all employees, customers and shareholders for the trust they have placed in me and ask all of you to also remain loyal to ANDRITZ in the future.
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