Rosenbauer International AG: Rosenbauer Group with revenues of Eur 649.5 million in the first three quarters of 2021

Leonding (pta007/16.11.2021/07:00 UTC+1) * Supply chain disruptions are delaying the completion of vehicles and causing work in progress to increase sharply
* Nevertheless, revenues remain at a historically high level
* EBIT falls to Eur 12.9 million as a result of the lower operating performance
* Incoming orders clearly gain momentum, rising from Eur 660.0 million to Eur 781.1 million
* For the year as a whole, the Executive Board expects stable revenues and an adjusted EBIT margin of 4.5 - 4.8%
* Renewed revenue growth is expected for 2022

GROUP KEY FIGURES		1-9/2020	1-9/2021
Revenues	Eur million	713.9	649.5
EBIT	Eur million	25.4	12.9
Net profit for the period	Eur million	17.3	6.8
Cash flow from operating activities	Eur million	-39.6	-52.3
Equity in % of total assets		25.9%	28.1%
Earnings per share	Eur	1.3	-0.1
Number of employees as of September 30		3,988	4,004
Order backlog as of September 30	Eur million	1,074.4	1,164.8

The Rosenbauer Group generated revenues of Eur 649.5 million in the first three quarters of 2021. The volume was thus 9% below the comparative period of the record year 2020, but still clearly higher than in the previous years. Among the sales regions, only the CEEU area kept its deliveries constant. The decline at Group level is due to massive supply chain disruptions that delayed the completion and handover of vehicles and resulted in a sharp increase of work in progress. Due to the resulting lower operating performance, EBIT fell to Eur 12.9 million (1-9/2021: Eur 25.4 million). However, incoming orders clearly gained momentum from January to September, rising from Eur 660.0 million to Eur 781.1 million.

In light of increasing material prices and the high uncertainty from the ongoing supply chain problems, the Rosenbauer Executive Board is adjusting its guidance for the current financial year. Thus EBIT margin should be between 4.5% and 4.8% (previously 5%) in 2021, whereas stable revenues are being confirmed. The market fluctuations and their impact on revenues and earnings are continuously monitored. Furthermore Rosenbauer is increasing its bidding prices for new tenders by 8% on average with immediate effect.

Revenues and result of operations
Although the COVID-19 pandemic has regained strength recently, the global economic recovery continues. At the same time, the fault lines opened up by the dangerous transmissible disease seem to be longer-lived, and the immediate divergences are likely to have a sustained impact on medium-term economic performance. The chasm between countries is chiefly due to access to vaccines and early political support. In October, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) lowered its forecast for global economic growth by 0.1 percentage point to 5.9% in 2021. This adjustment reflects the downgrade of developed economies - partly due to supply chain interruptions - and developing countries with low incomes - primarily due to the worse progression of the pandemic.

In the first nine months of 2021, the firefighting industry withstood the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and reported stable development. Demand for firefighting equipment was driven by Europe's developed markets in particular, which are continuing to grow.

The Rosenbauer Group generated total revenues of Eur 649.5 million in the first three quarters of 2021 (1-9/2020: Eur 713.9 million). Consolidated revenues are currently divided across the sales areas as follows**: 36% in the CEEU area, 9% in the NISA area, 10% in the MENA area, 13% in the APAC area, 29% in the NOMA area and 3% in the Preventive Fire Protection segment.

At Eur 12.9 million, EBIT in the first nine months of 2021 was down on the corresponding period of the previous year (1-9/2020: Eur 25.4 million). Consolidated EBT amounted to Eur 8.4 million in the reporting period (1-9/2020: Eur 21.6 million).

At Eur 781.1 million, incoming orders from January to September 2021 were significantly higher than the figure for the previous year (1-9/2020: Eur 660.0 million). Except for the MENA area, all the sales areas reported more new orders this year than in the comparative period of 2020. The highest growth rates were seen in the European and Asian business. For example the CEEU area received an order from the German armed forces for 76 all-terrain vehicles for fighting forest fires and the first fleet order for four fully electric vehicles from the "Revolutionary Technology" model series from the Basel-Stadt fire service. The order backlog as of the end of the third quarter of 2021 remains solid and amounted to Eur 1,164.8 million (September 30, 2020: Eur 1,074.4 million).

Financial and net assets position
Total assets decreased year-on-year to Eur 983.8 million (September 30, 2020: Eur 1,008.0 million), which can be attributed in particular to the lower current assets compared with the same period of the previous year. The biggest change was in current receivables, which were clearly below the previous year's level at Eur 238.2 million (September 30, 2020: Eur 277.8 million). In contrast, inventories increased slightly to Eur 486.2 million (September 30, 2020: Eur 479.1 million).

Trade working capital fell to Eur 509.7 million (1-9/2020: Eur 534.3 million) due to the lower revenues and stringent management.

The Group's net debt (the net amount of interest-bearing liabilities less cash and cash equivalents and securities) decreased year-on-year to Eur 381.2 million (September 30, 2020: Eur 407.3 million).

Fewer deliveries and the substantial increase in inventories since the turn of the year put cash flow from operating activities at Eur -52.3 million at the end of the third quarter of 2021 (1-9/2020: Eur -39.6 million). Clearly positive cash flow from operating activities is expected by the end of the year.

Outlook
The rapid spread of the Delta variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus and the threat of new mutations have exacerbated the uncertainty over how quickly the pandemic can be overcome. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) calculates that the global economy will grow by 4.9% in 2022, and growth rates are expected to level off at around 3.3% in the medium term. The production of developed economies will exceed pre-crisis forecasts in the medium term, primarily due to continued political support in the US. The output of developing and emerging economies will remain permanently in decline due to the slower vaccination and lower political support.

Past experience has shown that the global firefighting industry follows general economic trends at a delay of several months, and it is expected to hold steady this year. There were very strong levels of tendering activity in the first nine months, with larger orders again coming up for tender.

For 2022, the Rosenbauer management anticipates renewed growth of the global sector and an increase in Group revenues.

**) CEEU area: Central and Eastern Europe; NISA area: Northern Europe, Iberia, South America and Africa; MENA area: Middle East and North Africa; APAC area: Asia-Pacific; NOMA area: North and Middle America; PFP: Preventive Fire Protection

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