The HOMAG Group has recorded a significant improvement in order intake (+41%) and an economic recovery in the third quarter of 2020, compared to the second quarter. Nevertheless, the company’s results for the first nine months of 2020 have been impacted significantly by the COVID-19 pandemic.
"Like the entire machinery industry, we are still noticing the effects of the pandemic," says CEO Pekka Paasivaara.
"However, incoming orders recovered significantly in the third quarter. The future course of the pandemic will determine whether this positive development will continue.”
In the first nine months of 2020, HOMAG Group's sales revenues fell by 13 percent to EUR 833 million compared to EUR 957 million in 2019, and order intake by 16 percent to EUR 763 compared to EUR 907 million in 2019.
The order backlog as of Sept. 30, 2020 was EUR 461 million compared to EUR 546 million last yeae.
In the first three quarters of 2020, the HOMAG Group generated operating EBIT (Earnings before interest and taxes) of EUR 20.8 million compared to EUR 58.5 million in 2019. As of Sept. 30, 2020, the Group employed 6,482 people (Sept. 30, 2019: 6,615).
According to Paasivaara, business developed differently in the global market regions: "We see a recovery especially in China and in Northern and Eastern Europe. The trend is also positive in other regions, although there we are still below pre-crisis levels".
