Ad hoc announcement pursuant to Art. 53 LR
October 27, 2021Strong orders, guidance confirmed
Sulzer continues to grow profitably and is well on track to reach its financial targets thanks to a strong order and tendering increase in Q3, confirming the good momentum in demand in many industries.
9M 2021 HIGHLIGHTS
- Q3 2021 orders1 at CHF 803 million, +15.7% (+11.8% organic) on strong recovery in Flow Equipment (formerly Pumps Equipment) and continued growth in Services
- 9M 2021 order intake flat at CHF 2’354 million (-2.8% organic)
- Successful medmix spin-off and first trading day as separate company on Sept. 30
- New Sulzer division names to reflect widened business scope
- Guidance (ex medmix) confirmed: orders up 2–3%, sales up 6–8%, operational profitability around 9%
1medmix is classified as discontinued operations since the split, Sulzer performance figures are without APS/medmix
Order intake
| (millions of CHF) | Jan. – Sep. 2021 | Jan. – Sep. 2020 | Change | Change adjusted2 | Change organic2 |
| Flow Equipment | 968.8 | 1’019.0 | -4.9% | -5.0% | -10.7% |
| Services | 873.6 | 881.3 | -0.9% | -0.3% | -1.1% |
| Chemtech | 511.9 | 459.3 | 11.5% | 11.4% | 11.4% |
| Total Sulzer | 2'354.3 | 2'359.6 | -0.2% | 0.0% | -2.8% |
2Adjusted for currency effects.
3Adjusted for acquisition and currency effects.We continue to grow profitably and are well on track to reach our financial targets. We saw a marked order and tendering increase in Q3, confirming the good momentum in demand in many industries. Our renewed focus, as a pure play flow control company, positions us well to seize the ample opportunities in our strategic growth markets.
Greg Poux-Guillaume
CEO Sulzer
Sulzer Q3 orders grew 15.7% currency-adjusted and 11.8% organic compared to Q3 2020, mainly driven by Water and Industry in Flow Equipment as well as a continued upswing in Services and in China for Chemtech. In the first nine months of 2021, order intake was flat (-2.8% organic) compared to the same period a year ago. Currency impact was a negative 0.2% and acquisitions contributed CHF 65.4 million.
Order intake in Flow Equipment in the third quarter 2021 was up 23% currency-adjusted (+15% organic). The Water segment, which accounts for more than 40% of Flow Equipment division orders, was up 20% organically driven by the municipal wastewater market. The Industry segment performed well, up 14% currency-adjusted and organically. Energy segment orders grew 12% on increased tendering activity, despite our continued order selectivity.
Q3 orders in our Services business increased organically by 10% (+12% currency-adjusted), with the demand increase mainly coming from EMEA (+22% currency-adjusted) and Americas (+17% currency-adjusted). Asia-Pacific is still hampered by pandemic-related site access restrictions.
Chemtech continued its growth path in Q3, fueled by an upswing in field service activity in the US and continued growth in China (+14% organic). Momentum is building in other regions and our commercial pipeline in Renewables continues to be very active.
New division names and brand refresh
As we renew our focus on our core flow control business activities, we concluded that our division names no longer reflect their widened scope of business activity.
Pumps Equipment becomes Flow Equipment to encompass all of our offering, which expands far beyond pumps: compressors, grinders, agitators, digital and our comprehensive portfolio of water treatment solutions. Rotating Equipment Services becomes simply Services, encapsulating the growth of the business into a full-spectrum service provider, going beyond equipment that rotates. Chemtech will retain its name, but its journey towards Renewable applications is well under way.
Spin-off of medmix
medmix was successfully spun-off and its first trading day as a separate company was on September 30. medmix 9M orders were CHF 401.6m, up 58.3% YoY (+41.3% organic). medmix is now classified as discontinued operations in Sulzer’s 2021 reporting.
Outlook 2021
Although we expect the pandemic to continue to restrict movements in some regions and the prevailing logistical bottlenecks to pose challenges to our operations, the order growth momentum seen in Q3 is expected to continue in the fourth quarter.
We confirm our 2021 guidance (ex medmix) with orders to be up 2–3% and sales up 6–8%. Operational profitability is expected to be around 9%, above pre-pandemic levels.
Sulzer’s CEO Greg Poux-Guillaume and CFO Jill Lee will hold a conference call following the publication of the nine months order intake 2021:
| Date: | Wednesday, October 27, 2021 |
| Time: | 11:00 a.m. CET |
There will also be a webcast of the presentation at https://www.sulzer.com/q3-2021-webcast
This document may contain forward-looking statements including, but not limited to, projections of financial developments, market activity, or future performance of products and solutions containing risks and uncertainties. These forward-looking statements are subject to change based on known or unknown risks and various other factors that could cause actual results or performance to differ materially from the statements made herein.
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Domenico Truncellito
Group Head of External Communications
Sulzer Management Ltd
8401 Winterthur
Switzerland
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Thomas Zickler
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Sulzer Management Ltd
8401 Winterthur
Switzerland