First half of 2023 of the HOMAG Group: Increasing sales with decreasing order intake

08/03/2023

Schopfloch, August 3, 2023. Following the very strong previous years, the HOMAG Group's order intake declined in the first half of 2023. The company was, however, able to increase its sales.

Order intake decreased to EUR 671 million in the first six months of 2023 (previous year: EUR 1,031 million). "This slowdown in order intake does not come as a surprise," emphasized CEO Dr. Daniel Schmitt. "After two years of exceptionally high investments, our customers are now more cautious due to high inflation and interest rates. We see this in all global regions." The order backlog decreased to EUR 930 million as of June 30, 2023 (June 30, 2022: EUR 1,269 million).

As a result of the high order backlog at the beginning of the year, HOMAG Group sales rose to EUR 817 million in the first half of the year, exceeding the already very high figure of the previous year (EUR 782 million). At EUR 56.8 million, EBIT before special items was close to the previous year's level (EUR 58.6 million). It was impacted by lower earnings contributions from service, as many customers are not operating at full capacity as a result of subdued consumer demand, therefore requiring fewer spare parts and other services. In addition, one-off costs and higher research and development costs were incurred for the LIGNA trade show in May. As of June 30, 2023, the HOMAG Group had 7,576 employees (June 30, 2022: 7,333).

"We have adjusted to the more difficult market environment and declining order intake by implementing efficiency and cost-saving measures in order to strengthen our profitability," Dr. Schmitt emphasized. "At the industry's leading trade show LIGNA, we were able to inspire our customers with numerous innovations and create new investment incentives. We are confident that we will benefit from this as soon as the market situation improves again."

Company Background
The HOMAG Group is the world's leading provider of integrated solutions for production in the woodworking industry and woodworking shops. Its 14 specialized production sites, about 20 Group-owned sales and service companies and approximately 60 exclusive sales partners worldwide make the company a unique system provider. Backed by a workforce of some 7,000 employees the HOMAG Group offers its customers solutions for digitized production, based on digital data continuity from point of sale through the entire production process, combined with a comprehensive software suite. In addition, the open ecosystem "tapio" (open Internet-of-Things platform) maps the data flow along the entire value chain of the timber industry. The HOMAG Group has been majority-owned by the Dürr Group since October 2014.

Disclaimer
This press release contains certain statements relating to the future. Future oriented statements are all those statements that do not pertain to historical facts and events or expressions pertaining to the future such as "believes", "estimates", "assumes", "forecasts", "intend", "may", "will", "should" or similar expressions. Such future-oriented statements are subject to risks and uncertainty since they relate to future events and are based on current assumptions of the Company, which may not occur in the future or may not occur in the anticipated form. The Company points out that such future-oriented statements do not guarantee the future; actual results including the financial position and the profitability of the HOMAG Group as well as the development of economic and regulatory framework conditions may deviate significantly (and prove unfavorable) from what is expressly or implicitly assumed or described in these statements. Even if the actual results of the HOMAG Group including the financial position and profitability as well as the economic and regulatory framework conditions should coincide with the future-oriented statements in this press release, it cannot be guaranteed that the same will hold true in the future.