Earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) amounted to € 349.3 million, which was 34.7 % below the prior year figure (fiscal year 2017/18: € 534.7 million). The EBIT margin was 9.2 % (fiscal year 2017/18: 15.0 %).
Nicola Leibinger-Kammüller, Trumpf President and Chairwoman of the Managing Board, explains: “As a company operating in the investment goods sector, we are particularly exposed to the impact of cyclical highs and lows. That is currently the case. Given the uncertainty due to the U.S.–China trade conflict and the structural change in the automotive industry, many customers have become more cautious and are postponing investments.”
Biggest individual markets
As in the previous years, Germany was the largest individual market for Trumpf with sales of € 721 million, up 0.2 % compared to the previous year (€ 719 million). Sales revenue in the United States, the company’s second-biggest market, grew to € 547 million (previous year: € 444 million). At around € 460 million, the Netherlands is the third-biggest individual market due to the good development of EUV business, followed by China at € 415 million (previous year: € 457 million).
Development of number of employees
Group-wide, the Trumpf workforce grew from 13,420 to 14,490 employees in 2018/19. There were 7,427 people employed in Germany as at June 30, 2019 (previous year: 6,778), with around 4,400 working at the Ditzingen headquarters. The number of employees outside Germany rose to 7,063 (previous year: 6,642).
CO₂-neutral production by the end of 2020
Trumpf aims to achieve a CO₂-neutral energy balance at its production sites worldwide by the end of 2020 and therefore intends to increase investments in measures to protect the climate. By its own reckoning, the company currently emits around 90,000 metric t of CO₂ worldwide per year. Of this amount, 80 % is accounted for by electricity consumption. In this area, Trumpf is pursuing a policy of concluding further green power contracts and purchasing certificates under carbon trading schemes to offset emissions from the combustion of heating oil, natural gas and other fossil fuels. A similar approach is being applied in markets with limited availability of renewable energies in the electricity mix. All sites in Germany already cover 100 % of their electricity needs through green power contracts. Worldwide, 60 % of the electricity needs are covered by green power contracts.
Between now and June 2021, in addition to efforts to close this gap and become 100 % green, if necessary by purchasing certificates, Trumpf intends to invest some € 6.4 million in improving energy efficiency, for example by using its own cogeneration or photovoltaic plants to generate electricity. Other areas of improvement include process optimization, generation and distribution of cooling energy, lighting systems, and systems for the generation, recovery and distribution of heat. In the medium term, Trumpf aims to significantly reduce its use of emissions trading certificates.
_{(Source: TRUMPF GmbH + Co. KG)}