STADLER has reported a net profit of SFr 134.5m ($US 143.4m) for the 2021 financial year, dropping from SFr 138.4m reported in 2020. Stadler says this was due to foreign exchange rate losses of SFr 37.7m on the reporting date.

The decline in net profit came despite record figures for order intake, order backlog, revenue and Ebit.

Stadler reports that revenue has increased by 18% to SFr 3.6bn, up from SFr 3.1bn in 2020. Stadler says that despite the challenges facing the supply chain and the ongoing effects of the pandemic on approval and delivery processes, as well as on the service business, the manufacturer largely succeeded in catching up with the delays in accepting new vehicles from 2020. Stadler says this led to the revenue rise.

Stadler also reported an Ebit increase of 43% to SFr 223.7m compared with SFr 156.1m in 2020. The Ebit margin was 6.2% for the full year, up from 5.1% in 2020. Stadler says that in view of the current supply chain situation, production processes had to be continuously optimised in order to meet its delivery schedule for vehicles and this had a partially negative impact on the operating result.

Stadler says its order intake has grown by 28% to SFr 5.6bn despite delays in awarding major contracts. This is up from SFr 4.3bn in 2020. The order backlog is worth SFr 17.9bn.

Stadler also reported a free cash flow of SFr 434.2m  compared with a loss of SFr 450m in 2020. The company calls this very encouraging and said that in addition to catch-up effects from the previous year, this recovery also resulted from accelerated deliveries and higher advance payments for new projects.

Net debt was reported to be SFr 351m, a reduction from SFr 608m in 2020.

Stadler says it remains optimistic about its core markets for the 2022 business year, despite the political situation, especially in the Russia/Ukraine region, bringing about increasing uncertainty to the economic and capital markets. Stadler says it expects an order intake between SFr 5bn and 6bn in the current financial year, and that assuming the current supply chain situation, inflation and currency trends do not deteriorate further, it anticipates revenues of between SFr 3.7bn and SFr 4bn for the 2022 financial year and a stable Ebit margin.

The record order figures are despite delays to two major orders from Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) and Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB) due to legal challenges, and the €4bn tram-train order from a consortium led by the Association of German Transport Companies (VDV) not being booked until early 2022.

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