Capital Markets Day 2021: HELLA confirms medium-term growth and profitability targets

Lippstadt, 11 February 2021. The global automotive supplier HELLA is sticking to its medium-term targets despite the increasingly challenging market environment. The company confirmed this during its virtual Capital Markets Day yesterday in front of around 70 analysts and investors. Specifically, the company expects to achieve an annual sales growth of five to ten percent and a profitability level (adjusted EBIT) of at least eight percent over the next few years. The lighting and electronics expert will continue to invest heavily in future themes such as electromobility, autonomous driving, digital light and software. At the same time, the company's competitiveness will be strengthened further through digitalisation, automation and structural adjustments. With these strategic guidelines, HELLA considers itself well equipped to continue to outperform the market in the future and to further expand its own position.

Continued large investments in future themes such as electromobility, automated driving, digital light and software

"Despite the many challenges in the industry in general, our strategy is and remains intact. We have a solid, sustainable business model. Our attractive product portfolio is the basis for our aim to continue outperforming the market," said HELLA CEO Dr. Rolf Breidenbach, in his strategic outlook. "After all, we offer customised solutions for the mobility of tomorrow. In particular, we will continue to consistently make large investments in key trend areas such as electromobility, autonomous driving, digital light and software. Together with clear cost and efficiency management, these are the decisive catalysts with which we want to achieve our goals despite the market challenges."

Accordingly, the main driver of sales growth is good strategic alignment along key automotive market trends. In recent months, HELLA has started series production for numerous key automotive technologies, including 77 GHz radar sensors, battery electronics for high and low-voltage applications, steering electronics and SSL100 lighting technology, and has acquired numerous large-volume orders. In addition, HELLA has also further strengthened its good position in the largest, and thus so important, Chinese market via new partnerships and by expanding business activities with local automotive manufacturers.

Strengthening competitiveness through digitalisation, automation and structural adjustments

At the Capital Markets Day, HELLA also provided an outlook for future market developments. According to this forecast, global vehicle production is currently recovering somewhat faster than expected. Nevertheless, even in 2025, the global market volume remains significantly below the planning assumptions made before the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic.

"As an organisation, we have handled the coronavirus pandemic stress test well so far. But going forward, the market environment is not going to get any easier. In the short term, we have to steer the company in an extremely volatile market, which is currently burdened further by semiconductor bottlenecks, while in the medium term it will take several years before we see production figures return to pre-crisis levels. At the same time, the automotive industry is currently undergoing the largest transformation process in its history," highlighted HELLA CFO Bernard Schäferbarthold. "However, even in this environment, we have the potential to significantly outperform the market in the medium term. This is based not least on making sustainable investments in the ongoing transformation of the organisation through automation and digitalisation."

The complete presentation document for the Capital Markets Day 2021 can be found on the HELLA homepage in the Investor Relations section.