KEBA Grows by 3% in a Dynamic Environment to a New High of 553.5 Million Euros

KEBA Grows by 3% in a Dynamic Environment to a New High of 553.5 Million Euros

CEO Gerhard Luftensteiner looks back on successful decade with quadrupling of sales

Business development fiscal year 2022/2023

The KEBA Group, headquartered in Linz, increased its sales from 537.7 million € to 553.5 million € in the past business year (April 2022 – March 2023). This corresponds to a sales growth of approximately 16 million € or 3% . Looking at the last five years, the average annual growth is around 17% (CAGR).

The share of international business remained almost unchanged at 87% , with around 64% being shipped to the EU (excluding Austria) and around 13% to Asia.

For a technology company like KEBA, research and development is of central importance for the future success of the company and for its technological positioning on the market. Accordingly, the KEBA Group invests a significant portion of its sales in research and development (R&D) each year. The expenditure for R&D increased by around 5 million € and amounted to 75.7 million € last year.

The number of employees of the KEBA Group in the past fiscal year amounted to approximately 2050 employees (FTE) on the basis of full-time employment. A good half of the employees are employed in Austria, one third in Germany and around 200 employees in Asia.

At the Linz site, more than 40 apprentices are currently being trained in six different professions. A new apprenticeship is Applications Development – Coding, which aims to meet the demand for skilled workers in the course of digitalization through in-house training measures. The company also trains its own skilled workers at other sites, such as in Germany, where it also trains around 20 young people in various professions With 26 branches in 16 countries worldwide and a number of production sites of varying sizes in Austria, Germany, the Netherlands and China, the Group has a distinctive, transnational network and is strongly anchored in its markets and close to its customers. In addition, a dedicated office was opened in Vienna at the beginning of 2023. With this, KEBA wants to primarily address and attract specialists such as application engineers and software developers in this region.

In general, KEBA benefits from the breadth and diversity of its business areas, which serve different industries and are subject to different economic cycles. The general conditions were not easy and very challenging due to high inflation, rising component costs, high energy prices and the uncertainties caused by the Ukraine war in the last business year.

Three strategic business areas as a guarantee for growth

The KEBA Group has three operational business areas: Industrial Automation, Handover Automation and Energy Automation, which have been organized into independent companies for more than a year. This enables KEBA to serve the various industries with their different market requirements in an even more targeted manner. The three business areas have different characteristics. Industrial Automation focuses on the OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) sector, Handover Automation is active in the project business with the production of self-service machines, and Energy Automation is a series business close to the end customer with its wallboxes for e-cars and heating control systems.

The companies operate jointly under the strong KEBA brand and utilize the synergies of the group. KEBA Group AG is responsible for the overall orientation of the KEBA Group as well as its strategic and financial management.

Material supply also demanded KEBA

The supply of materials in the electronics sector was again challenging in the first half of the past fiscal year. KEBA clearly focused on being able to deliver. An internal task force, which was already installed at the beginning of 2021, was continuously involved in optimizing the supply according to the circumstances and finding appropriate solutions together with suppliers and customers. Once again, KEBA’s agile working method and flat organization proved to be very helpful here, because decisions could be made quickly. In this way, material availability and thus production supply could be largely ensured. However, this was also achieved through purchases at higher prices and in some cases adjustments to the products, so-called redesigns, were necessary due to the unavailability of components. KEBA’s reputation with its customers was once again enhanced.

After a turbulent period, the electronics market has been easing for several months, supply chains are stabilizing and availability is improving or delivery times are becoming shorter. However, price levels remain high – energy prices and inflation continue to keep costs up. Despite the improvements, the supply chain remains a critical issue and continues to require appropriate monitoring.

Research and development

In the last business year, KEBA invested 75.7 million € in the new and further development of its products and solutions.

Continuous investment in research and development (R&D) not only promotes technological progress, but also strengthens competitiveness and ensures long-term growth as well as future viability in a constantly changing global business environment.

A major focus in the past year was on the topic of artificial intelligence. The development of a dedicated KEBA AI module or the use of AI in predictive maintenance and in machine optimization are some examples of its application. Other focal points of development included, for example, human-robot coexistence, a safety platform for machine and robot controls or automats that enable forward-looking digital services. Investments were also made in the development of an app for charging at KEBA wallboxes and in a digital platform. The wallbox portfolio was expanded to include a PV edition for optimized excess PV charging and a so-called company car wallbox, which enables the correct billing of electricity charged at home with the employer.

Breadth and diversity as long-term stabilizers

In Industrial Automation, fiscal 22/23 was characterized by strong demand. At the same time, the effects of the chip crisis continued to be felt, which was managed with extraordinary personnel and financial efforts. The fact that KEBA Industrie Automation managed to remain capable of delivering despite the dynamic environment – high inflation, rising component costs and energy prices, uncertainties caused by the Ukraine war – earned a corresponding reputation on the market. As a result, a number of interesting companies in various countries were convinced by KEBA and its automation solutions and acquired as new customers. The fact that the situation in China has eased again due to the opening after the pandemic is also positive. The opportunity to participate in trade fairs again and thus intensify contacts with existing customers or acquire new customers supports the worldwide sales initiatives.

Handover Automation is a classic project business with its ATMs and parcel or transfer machines. Overall, interest in parcellocker machine solutions remains high. The new types of parcellockers from KEBA with app operation were well received by the market. In addition, it was possible to win follow-up orders from important customers and to expand market shares overall. KEBA sees potential for further growth in click & collect applications in retail.

KEBA also notices increasing demand for automatic transfer machines, in which items can be clearly recognized and identified on the basis of an RFID chip. They help to automate and digitalize workflows and handling processes. The area of application of such parcellockers is, for example, in textile management in the healthcare sector, or in production for the handover of tools, as well as in the management or handover and return of vehicle keys.

In the banking automation sector, KEBA asserts itself as a strong local partner of financial institutions. Customers appreciate KEBA’s technological know-how, decades of experience and, above all, its stability. After a large rollout at a major German bank, the company was able to win several tenders and new customers, which will take effect over the next few years due to the project-based business.

KEBA Energy Automation is one of the leading manufacturers of wallboxes. Active in this sector for 15 years, the KEBA business area is one of the pioneers of charging solutions for electric vehicles. In addition to the well-known wallboxes, KEBA also offers software solutions for the operation and load management of the same. With its charging solutions, KEBA relies on cooperation with energy suppliers and mobility providers as well as, above all, electricians and installation companies.

In order to drive the decarbonization of mobility, there have been corresponding subsidies in many European countries in recent years – both for vehicles and for infrastructure. This led to a sales turbo in the area of wallboxes. KEBA also took advantage of this development. While the period from 2021 to mid-2022 was characterized by reducing delivery times and being able to deliver accordingly due to the enormous demand for wallboxes, a significant flattening of demand was felt from the second half of 2022.

One of the main drivers of this development was that subsidies for electromobility were not continued as originally announced or new ones were adopted, such as the large KfW440 subsidy in Germany. While the subsidy pushed the expansion and demand for charging infrastructure accordingly, the opposite is now happening – customers, especially in the private sector, are waiting with their purchase decisions. KEBA also felt these effects. Independently of this, investments are being made in a new product generation and internationalization is being pursued. In order to help new technologies and projects, such as the energy turnaround, to achieve a breakthrough and to fundamentally enable this change, start-up funding is often needed. For companies investing in these areas, it is important to be able to rely on a certain stability of the funding landscape and investment security. Regardless of this, from KEBA’s point of view, there is no way around sustainable technologies. Like the entire automotive industry, KEBA is also committed to e-mobility and is thus on the move in a future
market.

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