– Business review – Services
Resilient performance on orders, sales and profitability
Note: If not otherwise indicated, changes from the previous year are based on organic figures (adjusted for currencies and acquisitions).
Order intake in the Services division rose by 1.6% in 2022, while profitability remained stable at a high 14.2%. Excluding the impact from the Russia exit, order intake would have been substantially higher. Sales remained basically flat (+0.7%), despite the division being worst affected by Sulzer’s exit from the Russian market. The division continues to strengthen its portfolio of services as the most complete player in the market, maximizing the efficiency and life cycles of a diverse range of customers’ equipment for critical applications.
Services strengthening its positioning as most complete player in the market
The Services division continues to strengthen its portfolio of services, technologies and coverage of products used in critical applications, now the most complete player in the market. We are applying the latest additive manufacturing and repair technologies for pumps, gas turbines and aeroderivative gas turbines. We are also developing low-emission solutions to bring older fleets up to the latest emissions standards – our improved offering allows us to provide faster, more sustainable and differentiated options to end-users and extend the life of our customers’ equipment.
Furthermore, the division is developing and deploying energy diagnostic tools to further its leadership position in retrofit solutions – supporting its customers in many industries with their decarbonization goals. Sulzer’s retrofit solutions along with digital monitoring can provide extraordinary efficiency and thus energy savings to customers across industries. One recent example: in 2022 the Services division was selected by a large desalination operator in Spain to upgrade their pumping system. The upgrade helped the plant to reduce its operational expenditure by CHF 400’000 per year and its CO2 emissions by 1’571 tonnes per year. Sulzer continues to strengthen its position in the desalination market as the market leader for pump optimizations, driving progress in this traditionally energy-intensive industry.
Key figures Services
|
millions of CHF |
|
2022 |
|
2021 |
|
Change in +/–% |
|
+/–% adjusted 1) |
|
+/–% organic 2) |
|
Order intake |
|
1’171.3 |
|
1’163.4 |
|
0.7 |
|
1.8 |
|
1.6 |
|
Order intake gross margin |
|
38.9% |
|
38.0% |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Order backlog as of December 31 |
|
492.9 |
|
479.5 |
|
2.8 |
|
|
|
|
|
Sales |
|
1’117.0 |
|
1’117.7 |
|
–0.1 |
|
0.8 |
|
0.7 |
|
EBIT 3) |
|
54.0 |
|
148.2 |
|
–63.5 |
|
|
|
|
|
Operational profit |
|
159.0 |
|
158.7 |
|
0.2 |
|
1.4 |
|
0.8 |
|
Operational profitability |
|
14.2% |
|
14.2% |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Employees (number of full-time equivalents) as of December 31 |
|
4’559 |
|
4’571 |
|
–0.3 |
|
|
|
|
1) Adjusted for currency effects.
2) Adjusted for acquisition and currency effects.
3) Impacted by write-offs related to Russia and Poland.
Order intake remains resilient
Order intake in the Services division rose by 1.6% compared with 2021. The Americas saw solid growth across all product lines (+11.1%), while the Asia-Pacific region also performed well (+2.4%), buoyed by particularly strong activity in Southeast Asia. Europe, the Middle East and Africa returned solid order intake, excluding the impact of Russia, driven by high orders in the Middle East in particular.
Order intake by market segment
2022
Order intake by region
2022
Margins stable at high levels
Sales remained flat at CHF 1’117 million (+0.7%). Increased sales in the Americas and the Middle East were able to compensate for shortfall in sales caused by the Russian exit. Profitability remained unchanged at 14.2% thanks to proactive price management and strict cost control.
Safety performance in 2022
The Services division’s accident frequency rate remained at a very low level of 1.0 cases per million hours worked. The accident severity rate decreased significantly, down 34%, from 36 lost days per million working hours in 2021 to 23.7 lost days per million working hours in 2022. Over the course of 2022, the division increased the number of safety observations by 27% and the number of safety walks by 54%, reflecting the active participation in and commitment to safety amongst our employees.
In addition, progressive investment in machinery safeguarding upgrades continues to ensure safe conditions in our service centers. The division will keep focusing on reducing the number of accidents and their severity by improving safety awareness with pre-work planning and stop work authority.
Abbreviations
EBIT: Earnings before interest and taxes
For the definition of the alternative performance measures, please refer to “Supplementary information”.