Bertrandt : generates over one billion euros in total revenues and sets its sights firmly on the future

(Ehningen, 13 December 2018) The Bertrandt Group was able to increase its total revenues in fiscal 2017/2018 and boost EBIT year on year. For the first time in its history, the Company reports total revenues of over a billion euros in a heterogeneous and challenging business environment.

Environmentally-friendly and individual mobility, as well as autonomous and connected driving, continue to be important market trends which are reflected in many ways throughout all the core areas of the automotive industry. The heterogeneous conditions prevailing in the previous year continued to apply. Delays again arose in the award of contracts to external providers of development engineering services and pressure on prices remained tangible. Under the current economic conditions and in view of present market and technology trends the Company has developed positively. 'Dealing with a huge range of topics now plays a critically important role in the success of engineering business. This is why, as a reliable technology partner, Bertrandt is taking on more and more responsibility,' says Dietmar Bichler, Bertrandt AG CEO.

Total revenues increased to EUR 1,021.020 million. The Bertrandt Group was able to generate total revenues of over a billion euros for the first time in its history. With two fewer working days than in the previous reporting period and ongoing challenging business conditions in the automotive industry, Bertrandt generated EBIT of EUR 72.141 million, a margin of 7.1 percent, and post-tax earnings of EUR 47.385 million. Forwardlooking investments of EUR 52.500 million were made in buildings and technical equipment for trend topics in the current fiscal year. With an equity ratio of 50.6 percent the Company stands on a sound financial footing. The number of employees increased by 259 in the reporting period to 13,229. The various activities in which the Company engages offer perspectives for specialists from numerous disciplines.

Changes in the market, leaps in technology to new drive systems or digitalisation - the challenges are many. Bertrandt's response is to set course for the future by investing in infrastructure and know-how, but also by producing innovative solutions and taking on greater project responsibility. New testing facilities which enable services for electrified drives in particular were successively commissioned during fiscal year 2017/2018. A high-voltage centre for battery tests in a climate chamber will be built at the Company's headquarters in Ehningen in the 2018/2019 financial year. The Group is also planning two testing centres for new drive technologies. What is more, Bertrandt is investing in its proprietary competence initiatives in the fields of electrified and automated driving and vehicle connectivity, as well as in future-oriented solutions in lightweight design. Bertrandt will also be intensifying its use of agile startup-type units in the fields of medical technology, virtual and augmented reality, cloud solutions, machine learning and big data. This will further strengthen the Company's presence in the market and explicitly underscore its project capabilities. Mobility and data are also increasingly interconnected and are engendering new topics, products and services alongside Bertrandt's established fields of business. New cloud computing projects have been launched during the reporting period with Microsoft, for example.