2021 was another record year for Danish-based European electronics manufacturer, GPV, which has now reached DKK 3.2 billion in revenue. In the past year, GPV managed to make the most of its production capacity despite global material shortages and logistics challenges. Now, the Danish electronics giant is setting new and more ambitious targets towards 2025.
The financial report of GPV once again set a record in both sales and earnings. In 2021, the Schouw & Co. owned company headquartered in Vejle, Denmark, manoeuvred well through an otherwise exceptionally challenging year with shortages of a wide range of electronics components and a melted-down global supply chain. This was not least due to an exemplary effort by the company’s 4,000 employees:
“2021 developed very differently for the players in our industry. Some were severely affected by the many challenges, while others managed to manoeuvre well and take advantage of opportunities arising from the strong demand. We were in the latter category thanks to a dedicated effort and willingness to make things happen among our employees. Sales kept in close dialogue with our customers, Procurement fought to source raw materials, Design and Engineering steered around the scarcity of resources by supporting customers in redesigning some of their products, Production was adaptable and tried to be agile when the components came into stock, and I could go on. The good result is therefore primarily due to our agility and ability to make maximum use of our production capacity and deliver as much as possible to our customers,” explains GPV CEO Bo Lybæk.
In particular, the fourth quarter of the year turned out to be better than expected, as GPV generated a revenue of DKK 887 million compared to DKK 696 million the year before. This brought the full-year revenue to DKK 3,191 million, an increase of 11 per cent compared to 2020, the previous record year.
Earnings also developed better than last year. In the final quarter of the year, GPV achieved EBITDA of DKK 89 million compared to DKK 79 million in the same period of 2020. Full-year EBITDA was DKK 342 million in 2021 compared to DKK 270 million the year before, which corresponds to an increase of no less than 27 per cent:
“Both revenue and earnings were the best in the history of GPV, and although we raised our guidance after the third quarter, we nevertheless exceeded our results from 2020. We are very proud of this achievement but also humble, as we have not been able to deliver everything that our customers wished for,” Bo Lybæk continues from the GPV head office in Vejle.
GPV is expanding its production capacity through improvements at its production units in Denmark, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Thailand, Sri Lanka, and Mexico. In the short term, GPV has and will be installing additional capacity in Thailand, Switzerland, Sri Lanka, and Slovakia, and beginning of 2023, three major expansions will be ready to be put into operation. In Sri Lanka, GPV cut the first sod for a new factory in October 2021, where production capacity will be expanded by 40 per cent. And last month, GPV signed a contract for building a new mechanics factory in Thailand followed by an expansion of the electronics factory. Combined, it provides GPV with an expanded capacity of 100,000 square metres of production area:
“Our production capacity has continuously expanded over the years. At the same time, our order flow from existing and new customers has increased accordingly, and today we are facing an order pipeline larger than ever. Therefore, the timing is just right to initiate new factory constructions and take another big growth step,” Bo Lybæk points out.
In the second half of 2021, GPV management worked on a new strategy to support growth towards 2025. The strategy has been named Winning Our Future 2025+, and here the eyes are on both organic growth and possible acquisition candidates. At the same time, GPV is continuously working with its values that help define the company’s culture.
Bo Lybæk stresses, however, that there are still many challenges to be addressed: Extremely long lead times of up to 40-50 weeks on selected components and logistical challenges that have so far improved only slightly:
“According to our forecasts, we do not expect any significant improvements until in second half of 2022, however visibility is still poor, and a lot can happen,” he notes.
For the year 2022, GPV expects the level of activity to be maintained and to lift revenue for 2022 to the level of DKK 3.2-3.4 billion. EBITDA is expected to be in the range of DKK 300-340 million, corresponding to the level of 2021.
