Change in the Board of Directors of Rieter Holding
Michael Pieper has supported and helped to significantly shape the development of Rieter for more than ten years. He joined Rieter as a major shareholder in 2008, and since then has been strongly involved in the strategic realignment of the group.
“On behalf of the Rieter Group, I extend our sincere gratitude to Michael Pieper for his extremely successful and valuable work on the Board of Directors and, above all, for his commitment as a long-term major shareholder,” said Bernhard Jucker, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Rieter Holding AG.
The Board of Directors of Rieter Holding announced its intention to propose Stefaan Haspeslagh for election to the Board of Directors at the Annual General Meeting on April 15, 2021.
Stefaan Haspeslagh (born 1958) holds a Master’s degree in Applied Economics from the University of Antwerp, Belgium. He has been Chairman of the Board of Directors and Chief Financial Officer of the Picanol Group, Belgium, since 2010.
Stefaan Haspeslag
Market recovery in the second half of 2020
On the other hand, Rieter announced the results for the fiscal year 2020. As a consequence of the Covid-19 pandemic, Rieter closed the 2020 financial year with sales of CHF 573.0 million, which corresponds to a decrease of 25% compared to the previous year (2019: CHF 760.0 million). Due to the low sales volume, a loss of CHF 84.4 million was recorded at the EBIT level while at the net profit level the loss was CHF 89.8 million.
Order intake of CHF 640.2 million in the 2020 financial year was 31% down on the previous year (2019: CHF 926.1 million). Following the significant slump in demand in the second quarter of 2020 (CHF 45.7 million), order intake recovered in the third quarter (CHF 174.4 million) and improved further in the fourth quarter (CHF 215.1 million). At the end of 2020, the company had an order backlog of about CHF 560 million (December 31, 2019: about CHF 500 million).
Sales Increased 83 Percent to Turkey
With the exception of Turkey and Africa, all regions were affected by the low demand as a consequence of the Covid-19 pandemic. In Turkey, thanks to the innovative range of products and services, Rieter benefited from customers’ willingness to invest in the year under review, increasing sales by 83% to CHF 122.0 million.
In the Asian countries (excluding China, India and Turkey), compared to the previous year sales fell by 37% to CHF 184.8 million, in China by 32% to CHF 92.8 million, in India by 49% to CHF 50.8 million, in North and South America by 37% to CHF 66.4 million and in Europe by 7% to CHF 38.4 million. In Africa, with sales of CHF 17.8 million a year-on-year increase of 11% was recorded.
