The strong performance in new business was driven by all four business divisions Logistics Solutions, Products & Equipment, Customer Services and Waste & Packaging. At just under EUR 2 billion, incoming orders were 17.5% higher than in the previous year.

Sales revenue increased by 30%. The largest sales driver was the Logistics Solutions division, which increased its revenue significantly in the fourth quarter, particularly due to the completion of a number of major intralogistics projects. This included the largest project in the company's history, the e-commerce fulfillment center of one of the leading omnichannel retailers in the USA, which was completed in just three years and launched in time for Black Friday 2021. The Customer Services division also grew strongly and benefited from high project capacity utilization. The Waste & Packaging and Products & Equipment divisions also performed well.

The positive earnings trend of the previous year is continuing and, according to preliminary figures, the Group has further significantly increased its profitability.

Steffen Bersch, CEO of the SSI Sch aefer Group: "We are satisfied with the course of the financial year, even though the market and the ongoing transformation of the Group remain challenging. As in the industry as a whole, individual activities of the SSI Schaefer Group were also affected by supply problems for key components and increases in material costs in the past financial year. Nevertheless, we have made good progress in all our strategic priorities of innovation, profitability, growth, customer satisfaction, sustainability and employee orientation. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all employees who have contributed to this success."

Important technology partnerships strengthened, on track with the sustainability strategy

In the past financial year, the acquisition of a majority stake in SWAN GmbH was a key milestone in SSI Schaefer's claim to be the industry's technology leader, increasing its activities in the area of SAP Extended Warehouse Management (EWM) integration alongside its own WAMAS software. This strengthens the Group's market position and opens up new customer potential. In the area of driverless transport systems in intralogistics, the already successfully established partnership with the Austrian manufacturer of self-driving vehicles DS Automotion was intensified and joint development work was driven forward.

The SSI Schaefer Group is also on track in the area of sustainability. The Group-wide sustainability strategy was adopted last fall. It will be presented in the Sustainability Report 2021, which will be published in summer 2022. On the customer side, the Group's intelligent intralogistics solutions helped to meet customer needs even more efficiently and sustainably in numerous projects last year. One example of its innovative strength is the vertical farming solution in collaboration with Infarm for the sustainable supply of an increasingly urbanized society, which will be presented at Expo 2020 in Dubai until 31 March 2022.

In 2022, the SSI Schaefer Group will continue to drive forward its focus on modular and scalable intralogistics solutions.