(AWP) The Bossard Group achieved significantly less sales in 2020 than in the previous year. The fault was not only the corona-related slump in spring, but also the strong franc to a large extent. In the fourth quarter, however, the company returned to the growth zone.
Specifically, sales in 2020 fell by 7.2% to CHF 812.8 million, as the early-cycle company announced on Thursday. In local currencies, i.e. adjusted for the negative currency effects, the specialist for industrial fastening and assembly technology still recorded a minus of 3.3%. The expectations of the analysts were thus clearly exceeded, as was the recently promised sales in the range of 780 to 800 million CHF.
“The global lockdown in March caused parts of the global economy to collapse, which was evident in the figures for the first half of the year,” said CEO Daniel Bossard (BOSNIA 194.00 +1.25%) quoted. However, the second wave of Covid hit industry less hard – in contrast to the service sector.
Strong final quarter
Bossard also benefited from the global economic recovery in the second half of the year. Because the pace of the loss of sales in the final quarter has not only decreased compared to the two previous quarters, it has even succeeded in reversing the trend. The fourth quarter was extremely robust in all regions, with December in particular being very strong and significantly exceeding expectations, the statement said.
Specifically, sales in the last quarter reached CHF 212.8 million, which corresponds to a growth of 2.9% in Swiss francs and as much as 6% in local currencies. “The recovery that we could already observe in the third quarter materialized from October,” said the CEO.
In Europe, the largest region in terms of sales, sales increased by 2.4% in local currencies in the fourth quarter. Boysen, which was taken over in mid-2019 and is active in the aerospace industry, also contributed to this.
However, things went even better in Asia with an increase of almost 12% and America with almost 10%.
No information is given on the outlook for the 2021 financial year. However, the figures from the last quarter are optimistic for the further course of business, it said. Bossard will present the detailed annual results on March 3rd.
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