Zurich (awp) – Battery maker Varta saw its sales more than double year on year in the first six months of 2020. Despite the Covid-19 crisis, Montana Tech’s German subsidiary has managed to improve its profitability operational and raised its ambitions for the entire financial year.
Boosted by the acquisition of Varta Consumer, sales made between January and the end of June amounted to 390.7 million euros (+ 158%). Adjusted for this effect, growth was 66.5%, the company said in a press release on Friday. And to specify that all business units contributed to this performance, in particular lithium-ion batteries
Adjusted gross operating income (EBITDA) almost tripled to € 102.1 million (+ 124.8% excluding acquisition effect), for a related margin of 26.1%, up 150 basis points (bps) over one year. Net profit stood at 39.9 million euros, more than double that of the first half of 2019.
“Thanks to our well-stocked order book despite the macroeconomic situation, we are raising our sales and profit forecasts for fiscal 2020,” said Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Steffen Munz, quoted in the press release, confirming the warning issued the night before.
For revenue, Varta is now targeting 810-830 million euros, up from 780-810 so far – which corresponds to an annual growth of 123-129% or 47-53% in organic terms – and for EBITDA 210-215 (175-185) million.
The Montana Tech subsidiary also intends to double down on investment to finance the planned expansion of its production capacities from 200 million cells per year currently to 300 million cells per year by the end of 2021.
Capital expenditure (Capex) for the current financial year is therefore now expected at 320-360 (300-330) million euros. In the first half of the year alone, they were multiplied by more than six in annual comparison, to 123.7 million.
pcs / jh
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