Brief Report on Business Development in Fiscal Year 2020 and the Expectations for 2021

2020: Resistant through the corona crisis – 2021: Growing confidence in view of the positive course of business

Diehl Holding

2020: Resistant through the corona crisis – 2021: Growing confidence in view of the positive course of business

In the year under review dominated by corona, the Diehl Group's corporate sales – at € 2,978.8 million – were € 649.7 million below the previous year's value (€ 3,628.5 million). The Diehl Group as well was severely hit by the drastic worldwide recession triggered by the pandemic.
Thanks to uncompromising countermeasures, all in all, better figures could be achieved than feared by the middle of the year. The Defence Corporate Division, for example, recorded its second most successful year in its history and Metall, Controls and Metering could recover after having faced noticeably slumps in the first and second quarter. The generated EBIT amounts to € -132.1 million and thus was € 253.5 million below the 2019 value. In addition to the earnings reductions as a result of the dramatic decline in sales at Aviation, one-off expenditures for structural adjustments also contributed with about € 100 million. At its worldwide locations, a total of 16,866 employees were employed at the end of the year.

Outlook 2021: In view of the persistent positive business development, the Diehl Group is confident to reach sales once again on previous year's level

The Diehl Group started with modest expectations into the year 2021. In the light of the positive business development in the first weeks and months, the confidence for the current year has however grown more and more. Even if many uncertainties will continue to exist in the course of plannings, such as impacts of shortage of parts on the production in some corporate divisions, Diehl maintains an optimistic view, all in all. Chances seem good that the defined goals will be achieved in 2021. Nevertheless, the year remains under tension. Future-oriented restructuring of the Aviation Corporate Division, customer-oriented innovations, cost management, digitization and persistent further development as well as implementation of the sustainability strategy remain important aspects in order to overcome the economic aftereffects of the corona crisis and to strengthen future viability. For 2021, the Diehl Group is striving to achieve sales on previous year's level as well as a significantly lower net loss for the year.