Krones’ consolidated revenue fell in 2020 as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic

Preliminary figures | Krones, one of the leading manufacturers of filling and packaging technology, slightly exceeded its most recently outlook according to the preliminary figures for 2020. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, revenue fell 16.1 per cent year-on-year, from 3958.9 million EUR to 3322.7 million EUR. This is a slightly smaller revenue shortfall than the 17 per cent decrease forecast in early November 2020.

The uncertain general economic situation in 2020 burdened investment confidence among Krones’ customers. This affected the company’s order intake, primarily in the first half of the year. The contract value of orders increased significantly in the third and especially in the fourth quarter. Over the full year 2020, order intake was down 19 per cent year-on-year.

Profitability affected by corona and one-off effects

The lower order intake meant that Krones could not make optimum use of its production capacity. This impacted profitability in 2020. Savings resulting from the structural measures adopted by the company in the second half of 2019 had a positive effect on earnings. In total, earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) went down from 227.3 million EUR in the previous year to 133.2 million EUR in 2020.

The EBITDA margin was 4.0 per cent (previous year: 5.7%). It should be noted that EBITDA was impacted in 2020 by around 72 EUR million in expenses for personnel-related measures. Excluding these expenses for capacity adjustment, the EBITDA margin was 6.2 per cent in 2020 (previous year: 6.6%).

Overall, Krones continues to possess a very robust financial and capital structure. All stated figures are preliminary and are subject to change in the course of auditing by the independent auditors. Krones publishes its Annual Report for 2020 on 25 March 2021.