Sick
Forecast targets for 2019 achieved
Sensor manufacturer Sick was able to continue its growth in a challenging market environment and increased its sales by 7% in the 2019 financial year.
Sales rose to EUR 1.75 billion (2018: EUR 1.63 billion), which was well above the growth rate for the sensor industry, which was reported by the AMA Association for Sensors and Measurement at -1% for 2019. Sick also recorded another high order intake of EUR 1.77 billion in 2019 (2018: EUR 1.7 billion). The global workforce increased by 2.6% to 10,204 employees.
In addition to other measures to increase efficiency, the growth in sales contributed to a 13.1% increase in EBIT to EUR 132.9 million, which remained high at 7.6% of sales. Sick was therefore able to meet the targets forecast for the 2019 financial year, even though the company was confronted with a slowdown in the global economy, the deepening of global trade disputes and a difficult market situation in factory automation in general and the automotive industry in particular.
Incoming orders and sales varied greatly in the individual divisions and regions, reflecting the dynamic economic developments. While demand in factory automation fell worldwide, Sick was able to gain market share in logistics and process automation. This broad industry positioning enabled stagnation in individual segments to be offset.
In the home market of Germany, sales were slightly down on the previous year with a change of -0.6%. The reluctance of German companies to invest led to a drop in sales, particularly in the automotive sector. The financial year was more stable in the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) sales region - despite a slowdown in the economy, an increase in sales of 7.9% was achieved there. In particular, business in Italy, Austria, Sweden and Norway as well as the UK provided positive impetus. At 7.6%, sales growth in North, Central and South America (Americas) was at a similar level. Asia-Pacific remained the strongest growth region worldwide. With growth of 11.3%, sales growth remained in double digits in 2019.
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