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GAETAN BALLY
The Swiss business group Dormakaba, based in Rümlang ZH, suffered a drop in sales last year due to the Covid-19 pandemic. And profitability also suffered during the crisis. The group has already made significant job cuts and sees signs of recovery.
Specifically, the lockout technology company achieved 10 percent lower turnover of 2.54 billion francs in the 2019/20 financial year ending June 30. Organically, sales fell 6.9 percent, according to a press release Thursday.
No growth due to Corona
Last fiscal year was very different. While Dormakaba grew organically 0.8 percent in the first half, roughly in line with expectations, the fallout from the corona pandemic in the second section led to a decline of a good 14 percent. All segments were affected by the crisis, he said.
Operating profit at the EBITDA level fell 28 percent to 325 million francs. The corresponding margin fell to 12.8 from 15.9 percent a year earlier. The net profit was 164 million. That means less than 35 percent. With the numbers, Dormakaba has lost the expectations of the analysts.
1,300 full-time positions to be eliminated
Dormakaba expects the corona pandemic to unleash negative influences in the future and has launched a restructuring program to cut costs. This is accompanied by massive job cuts, with capacity shrinking in Asia and the US, in particular due to falling demand.
A total of 1,300 full-time positions will be eliminated, 900 of which had already been eliminated at the end of June, according to the announcement. After the first cut, the group still employed 15,676 full-time employees.
Unsafe situation
Dormakaba sees the first signs of recovery in the market. In June and July, the economic environment improved after the extremely weak months of April and May. But people will continue to suffer the consequences of the pandemic and geopolitical uncertainties are also causing problems, they say.
Meanwhile, the prospects are difficult to assess. Dormakaba assumes that results for the first quarter of 2020/21 are likely to be better than the last quarter of last financial year. However, in view of the uncertain situation, the group does not provide any forecast for the full year 2020/21. (vnf / SDA)
