secunet achieves a record financial year for 2021

German biometrics and security firm secunet reports a record financial year in 2021 driven by sales in the public and private sector, though it warns of possible troubles ahead for the supply chain that would affect business.

For 2021, secunet earned 337.6 million euros (approximately US$370 million) compared to €285.6 million in 2020, an 18 percent increase year-over-year. Similarly, earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) rose to €63.9 million from 51.9 million in 2020 in a 24 percent increase. Earnings per share increased from €5.43 in 2020 to €6.66 in 2021, a 23 percent rise.

The company attributes the growth to strong sales in its public and private businesses. Its public sector, which focuses on public clients domestically and internationally, rose to €278.1 million in 2021 compared to €237.1 million the previous year. Secunet says the business boost was pushed by the SINA product family and pandemic-related procurement of secure mobile workstations.

Biometrics are not identified as a major source of revenue for secunet in 2021, despite the deployment of the company’s airport biometric technology in Bulgaria to meet incoming EES regulations.

Its business sector, which sells primarily to private sector businesses and healthcare, saw a 23 percent rise in revenue, from €48.5 million in 2020 to €59.5 million in 2021. The private sector also recorded a positive EBIT of €6.5 million, as against a loss of €2.2 million in the previous year. The company says the improvement is due its PTV3 and PTV4 software upgrades of the ‘konnector,’ a healthcare product.

Secunet’s overall balance sheet saw a 14 percent increase with €274 million in 2021 compared to €239.8 million in 2020. Equity increased by 26 percent from €102.8 millions in 2020 to €129.8 million in 2021, while cash and cash equivalents increased by 18 percent from €101.6 million in 2020 to €119.5 million in 2021. Its order book rose from €149.5 million in 2020 to €185.2 million in 2021. The notable surge in orders is from a high level of public sector customers, according to secunet.

“The bottom line is that not only have we clearly met our forecast for the year 2021, but we can also look back on the eighth successive year in which we have achieved record results,” says Axel Deininger, CEO of secunet Security Networks AG. “The product business with the entire SINA family has continued to develop very positively. In the healthcare market, we were able to maintain our market-leading position in equipping medical service providers with healthcare connectors. Furthermore, we have set numerous strategic pillars in the industrial sector with which we intend to achieve stronger growth there in the medium term.”

secunet warns of troubles ahead from supply chain conditions that impact semiconductor supplies and the end of pandemic-related market efforts. The company says it cannot predict the risks or opportunities related to procurement or sales from the €100-billion special fund for the German armed forces made in light of the war in Ukraine. The company forecasts sales revenue of around €320 million and an EBIT of around €50 million for the 2022 financial year.

Article Topics

biometrics  |  border security  |  financial results  |  secunet  |  stocks