– Business review – Services
Order and sales growth, profitability at new heights
Note: If not otherwise indicated, changes from the previous year are based on currency-adjusted figures.
Order intake in the Services division grew by 2.8% in 2021 despite ongoing customer site access restrictions. Sales increased 3.5% while operational profitability rose to a record 14.2%. With the acquisition of Turbo Services Ltd., we further expanded our aero-derivatives portfolio to cover Pratt & Whitney engines. In 2021, the division changed its name to Services to reflect its expanded range of competencies. As part of Sulzer’s strategic succession plan announced in 2021, Tim Schulten has succeeded Daniel Bischofberger as Division President.
A new name and leader for the Services division
In 2021, Sulzer initiated a brand refresh with new division names to better represent the expanding range of competencies and services we offer. Rotating Equipment Services therefore became Services, reflecting the growth of the division from providing parts and repair work for rotating equipment into a full-spectrum service provider. Using additive manufacturing and artificial intelligence, our customers look to us to maximize the lifetime value of a wide range of equipment — rotating and non-rotating.
As previously announced, Daniel Bischofberger, who joined Sulzer as Division President Services in 2016, is leaving the company to take on a role of CEO outside of Sulzer. Daniel’s tenure over the last six years has been a great success for the division — he reorganized the business in regions, built a strong leadership team, was instrumental in the digitalization of our businesses, and expanded the division’s reach with targeted acquisitions to adjacencies like aero-derivatives. We are excited for Daniel as he moves onto this next stage of his career and thank him for his outstanding contribution to Sulzer over the last six years.
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Leading Sulzer’s Services division has been a privilege and a highly enjoyable and successful period of my career. Together we have transformed the division, greatly expanding its offering and delivering a resilient performance over the years — now with record profitability. Tim Schulten is an excellent leader and a great fit to shape the next chapter for the Services division.”
Daniel BischofbergerDivision President Services
The Board selected Tim Schulten, formerly Sulzer’s Group Head of Strategy, Marketing and Digital to take over from Daniel as of January 1, 2022. Tim joined Sulzer in early 2021. At Caterpillar, where he spent most of his career, Tim acquired extensive experience running service and parts businesses. He was most recently the General Manager for Marketing and Product Support for the Electric Power business, responsible for marketing, channel development, pricing, business support, parts logistics and engineering. He was previously General Manager for Sales and Distribution of engine-maker MWM GmbH, in Mannheim. Tim holds an MSc in Mechanical Engineering from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), and an MBA from Harvard.
Key figures Services
|
millions of CHF |
|
2021 |
|
2020 |
|
Change in +/–% |
|
+/–% adjusted 1) |
|
+/–% organic 2) |
|
Order intake |
|
1’163.4 |
|
1’130.8 |
|
2.9 |
|
2.8 |
|
2.0 |
|
Order intake gross margin |
|
38.0% |
|
38.4% |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Order backlog as of December 31 |
|
479.5 |
|
435.0 |
|
10.2 |
|
|
|
|
|
Sales |
|
1’117.7 |
|
1’078.3 |
|
3.7 |
|
3.5 |
|
2.7 |
|
EBIT |
|
148.2 |
|
126.3 |
|
17.3 |
|
|
|
|
|
Operational profit |
|
158.7 |
|
150.3 |
|
5.6 |
|
5.1 |
|
3.8 |
|
Operational profitability |
|
14.2% |
|
13.9% |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Employees (number of full-time equivalents) as of December 31 |
|
4’571 |
|
4’449 |
|
2.7 |
|
|
|
|
1) Adjusted for currency effects.
2) Adjusted for acquisition and currency effects.
Increasing orders
Orders in our Services division increased 2.8% (2.0% organically), with both Pumps Services and Other Equipment contributing equally. Regionally, Europe, the Middle East and Africa grew 5.2%, while the Americas increased by 5.0%. Asia-Pacific decreased 10.2% due to regional lockdowns causing access restrictions at customer sites, mainly in Southeast Asia.
Order intake by market segment
2021
Order intake by region
2021
Rising sales and record profitability
In 2021, sales increased by 3.5% thanks to strong activity in the Americas (+8.2%) and Europe, the Middle East and Africa (+1.7%) regions, which was more than able to offset the decrease in Asia-Pacific (–4.3%) due to the continued impact of the pandemic. Operational profitability also rose to a record level of 14.2%, thanks to strong execution and strict margin and cost management.
Safety performance in 2021
In 2021, Services reported a substantially reduced accident frequency rate (AFR) of 1.0 case per million working hours, after an increase in 2020 up to 1.6. The accident severity rate (ASR) in 2021 increased to 34 lost days per million working hours, up from 24.2 in 2020. This increase was primarily due to three road-traffic accidents (where our drivers were not at fault) that caused more than 100 days of lost time in 2021.
Abbreviations
EBIT: Earnings before interest and taxes
For the definition of the alternative performance measures, please refer to “Supplementary information”.