Industrial division grows strongly

The Industrial division successfully continued its course of profitable growth in 2021 and generated sales of 3,568 million euros (previous year: 3,132 million euros), which corresponds to a currency-adjusted increase of 13.6%. The sector clusters developed differently. Particularly strong growth was achieved in the Industrial Automation, Power Transmission and Offroad sector clusters as well as in the trading business (Industrial Distribution).

In the Europe region, currency-adjusted sales rose by 12.3%, with the Industrial Automation, Power Transmission and Industrial Distribution sector clusters recording significant growth rates in the second half of the year in particular. Growth in the Americas region of 13.8% on a currency-adjusted basis was mainly attributable to Industrial Distribution. In the Greater China region, currency-adjusted sales rose by 14.5%, although the expiry of subsidies had the expected impact on demand in the wind sector cluster. In the Asia/Pacific region, sales were up 18.3% on the previous year after adjusting for currency effects. The increase was largely due to the rise in volume in the wind sector cluster in India.

Forecast for 2022 suspended

Due to the events in Ukraine and the resulting impact on the global economy, the Board of Managing Directors of Schaeffler AG has suspended the forecast for 2022 for the Schaeffler Group and its divisions published on March 8, 2022. On February 22, 2022, the Board of Managing Directors of Schaeffler AG had issued an outlook for the year 2022 when preparing the financial statements, which cannot be maintained due to the events in the days since the date of preparation. From today's perspective, neither the further course of events nor the economic impact can be reliably estimated. A new forecast will be issued as soon as this is possible.

Klaus Rosenfeld, CEO of Schaeffler AG, said: "Despite a difficult environment, 2021 was a successful year for the Schaeffler Group in which we were able to increase the Group's revenue by around 10 percent at constant currency and our operating profit before special items by around 60 percent. Due to the dramatic developments in connection with Ukraine and the resulting increasing uncertainty and turmoil, we have decided to suspend our forecast, which was approved internally by the Executive Board on February 22, 2022 before the invasion. Our diversified positioning with three divisions and four regions, the quality of our operating business and our solid finances will help us to get through the current crisis. The strategic initiatives and priorities defined in our Roadmap 2025 remain valid. This applies in particular to the topic of sustainability."