TAKKT AG: TAKKT makes significant progress in implementing the strategy and wants to significantly increase free cash flow in 2023

TAKKT makes significant progress in implementing the strategy and wants to significantly increase free cash flow in 2023

• Successful implementation of the strategy “Growth, OneTAKKT, Caring”
• After very good growth in 2022, stable organic sales development forecast in an uncertain environment in 2023
• For 2023, TAKKT expects EBITDA in the range of EUR 120 to 140 million and a significant increase in TAKKT free cash flow

Stuttgart, Germany, March 28, 2023. TAKKT has been pursuing a new strategy since the beginning of 2022 with a transformation to a more customer-centric, integrated and growth-oriented company. In implementing the strategy, the Group has made great progress and achieved its first visible successes in the past year. The driver and target image of the transformation is the TAKKT vision for shaping the working worlds of the future. "New worlds of work is our vision of how work, employees and workplaces will develop in the coming years. We are facing fundamental changes. Competition for employees will lead to greater automation and the use of AI. And an attractive workplace will become an increasingly important factor in recruiting employees. Our three divisions offer the right products and services for the respective working environments," says CEO Maria Zesch, explaining the company's own ambition.

To make this vision a reality, TAKKT is focusing on implementing the strategy with the three pillars Growth, OneTAKKT and Caring. To increase organic growth, the Group has launched several initiatives in 2022, such as expanding cross-selling and strengthening e-commerce. With OneTAKKT, building up the Group's logistics and technology functions was one of the top priorities last year. And with a view to Caring, i.e. assuming corporate responsibility towards customers, employees and the environment, TAKKT has introduced the "enkelfähig" label, a demanding rating profile for particularly sustainable products. In 2022, the business with "enkelfähig" products already had a share of around 20 percent, and this share is to be doubled by 2025. Further information on this topic can be found in the Sustainability Report published today.

Ambitious growth and earnings goals are associated with the strategy. For example, the group aims to achieve sales of EUR two billion and EBITDA of EUR 240 million in 2025. "We are successfully working on the implementation of the strategy and have reached important milestones. I am convinced that we can increase our organic growth to an average of ten percent in the medium term. But we are not naïve either. We did not originally expect a long drawn-out war in Ukraine or recession. So it has certainly become more challenging to fully achieve the financial goals as early as 2025," says Maria Zesch with a view to the current general conditions.

After the focus in 2022 was on internal transformation with an emphasis on activities in Europe, the topic of M&A will also gain in importance in the current year. "We are particularly interested in companies that can be integrated well into one of the three divisions. In addition, sustainable and also circular business areas are of interest to us. Our approach depends on the market situation and the availability of potential acquisition targets. We are very interested in getting to know high-growth and financially sound companies and have intensified our activities," says CFO Lars Bolscho.

In addition, the Group will take the next steps in implementing its strategy in 2023. In Europe, the focus will be on brand consolidation and the relaunch of the KAISER+KRAFT sales brand with a broader product range and even stronger presence. In the US, TAKKT will push ahead with the integration of the FoodService division in the areas of sales, marketing and category management. "In addition, we want to pick up speed again in e-commerce by optimizing our performance marketing and expanding our presence to additional platforms. Equally important is the further expansion of our pricing competence through more variable pricing. These measures will already support our business this year," says CEO Maria Zesch.

After TAKKT was able to significantly increase sales and earnings in 2022, expectations for 2023 are more cautious. Economic forecasts for Europe and the US are currently very uncertain and assume very low GDP growth rates. "We are positioning ourselves flexibly and will adapt our behavior to the current conditions. The start of the new year was expectedly subdued, but for the second half of the year we expect an upswing and increasing demand. After the strong increase in the previous year, we expect a stable organic sales development this year," is CFO Lars Bolscho's assessment. In this environment, TAKKT will pay attention to strict cost and results management. The goal is to improve the gross profit margin to around 40 percent. In terms of EBITDA, the Group expects an amount between EUR 120 and 140 million. While sales and earnings should therefore be around the previous year's level, TAKKT aims to generate a significantly higher free TAKKT cash flow than last year through further improvements in the management of net working capital.

Analyst conference: March 28, 2023 at 2:00 p.m. (CEST).

The analysts’ conference for analysts and investors will be held as a conference call today at 2 p.m. To participate, please register under the following link: www.takkt.de/event

Financial calendar
TAKKT will publish the figures for the first quarter on April 27, 2023.

Key Figures for the TAKKT Group for the 2022 Financial Year
(in EUR million)

About TAKKT AG
TAKKT AG is the leading omnichannel distributor for business equipment in Europe and North America. The Group is represented in more than 25 countries with its Industrial & Packaging, Office Furniture & Displays and FoodService divisions. The product range of the subsidiaries comprises more than 700,000 products for the areas of plant and warehouse equipment, office furniture, transport packaging, display articles and equipment for the food service industry, hotel market and retailers.

Contacts

Michael Loch    phone +49 711 3465-8222
Benjamin Bühler    phone +49 711 3465-8223
Email: investor@takkt.de