Segment Access Solutions EMEA

AS EMEA achieved total sales of CHF 712.9 million in the 2020/21 financial year. Organic sales grew by 4.4% compared to the previous year. Financial year 2020/21 continued to be impacted by the pandemic; however, the sequential quarter-by-quarter recovery resulted in 13.0% organic growth in the second half of 2020/21 compared to the prior-year period.

All major countries and regions saw good growth. There was a particular strong upswing in growth in Southern Europe, with France reaching all-time high sales levels, as well as good growth in the UK and Benelux. Scandinavia returned to organic growth supported by the successful turnaround of the business in Norway. The Norwegian business returned to organic growth and profitability thanks to the successful divestment of its project installation business in August 2020. The only region with negative organic growth was Middle East owing to larger non-repeated projects in the 2019/20 financial year as well as market liquidity constraints.

Sales growth in AS EMEA was driven by strong double-digit growth for the Product Cluster Electronic Access & Data (EAD). Most other Product Clusters experienced good growth as well, though Lodging Systems showed a double-digit decline due to the severe impact of the pandemic on the hospitality vertical.

EBITDA increased by CHF 15.4 million to CHF 60.9 million compared to the prior-year period, supported by strong volume growth and favorable product mix including price increases, as well as tight cost control and procurement benefits. At the same time, there was higher factory output especially with the growth of the EAD product cluster. The EBITDA margin therefore rose by 2.0 percentage points to 8.5%, which is above the pre-Covid level.

For the 2021/22 financial year, AS EMEA expects moderate organic growth with continued recovery of its main markets supported by a good order book above prior-year level in all regions. The segment will benefit from several project wins, for example for major airports in Spain, Poland, and the Middle East, a major business park in Moscow as well as a major contract for the Drammen hospital in Norway. In all these projects, the installed solutions will include several Product Clusters.

Recent product development efforts focus on the development of new, innovative solutions such as an automatic door system that uses biometric and telemetry imaging to manage people flow especially in stores with Covid-19 distancing requirements. The solution was launched in 2020/21 in the UK and the rollout across various other markets will continue in 2021/22.

The segment will continue to increase sales prices to compensate for higher raw material costs and has initiated measures to secure supplies of scarce electronic components to enable growth for its electronic access solutions.

Key figures - segment AS EMEA

 Segment sales (CHF million) - AS EMEA