Sales rose by 140 percent to 870 million euros. For the first time, a dividend is to be distributed.
The German battery company Varta owned by Austrian investor Michael Tojner benefited in the past year primarily from the business with batteries for wireless headphones.
Thanks to the purchase of the household battery division, sales climbed by around 140 percent to 870 million euros, as the MDax company announced on Thursday in Ellwangen based on preliminary figures. Without the acquisition, the company would have grown by 47 percent.
Adjusted for special effects, earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization rose by 145 percent to EUR 239 million. Both sales and operating profit were therefore better than previously estimated by analysts and also exceeded the Group's most recent forecast.
For the first time dividend in prospect
The evening before, Varta had announced that it would pay a dividend again for the first time since the IPO in 2017. It should be 2.50 euros per share, and the group intends to distribute around 100 million euros to shareholders.
The chairman of the supervisory board and majority owner Michael Tojner was also confident about the current financial year. Due to the massive investments in the expansion of production capacities, the company will continue to grow this year, according to Tojner on Thursday, according to the announcement. The demand for rechargeable lithium-ion batteries for more expensive consumer products, especially wireless headphones, is still very high.
In the current year, Varta intends to turn over around 940 million euros and increase the adjusted operating margin (Ebitda) by up to 2.5 percentage points to up to 30 percent. In terms of sales in particular, analysts had expected more and an average of over a billion euros in revenue on the slip.
Graz research center integrated
The battery research center Varta Innovation, based in Graz, has meanwhile been fully integrated under corporate law into Varta AG, which in turn belongs to Tojner's industrial group Montana Tech Components.
Tojner emphasized that the research location in Austria is an important factor for the future. As part of an IPCEI (International Project of Common European Interest), the EU Commission has approved Austrian funding for the Varta Innovation project, which will give the main research areas an important boost. “The additional funding will enable us to further intensify and accelerate research and development in the field of lithium-ion technology,” said Tojner. In the coming years, the main focus will be on further increasing the energy density of battery cells and reducing the use of critical raw materials such as cobalt as much as possible.
Varta plans to present the detailed annual report including all financial figures such as net profit on March 31st.
