Sharp cost increases and supply chain disruptions hit the automotive industry hard last year. Despite this, automotive supplier Polytec Group (Hörsching, Austria; www.polytec-group.com) managed to increase its sales by 6.5% to EUR 555.9 mn in 2021. It still could not, however, reach the pre-coronavirus mark of EUR 575 mn.

Polytec benefited from good demand from the car and light commercial vehicle market segments, which brought its Passenger Cars & Light Commercial Vehicles business unit an 18.7% increase in sales to EUR 390.2 mn. The Commercial Vehicles business unit, however, had to suffer a loss of 21.9%, to EUR 92.4 mn. The Smart Plastic & Industrial Applications division had to accept a smaller decline in sales – down 2.3% to EUR 73.5 mn.

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The turmoil on the feedstock and energy markets put pressure on Polytec’s earnings, particularly from the second quarter of 2021 onwards. In difficult negotiations, it was possible to at least partially pass on various burdens from market distortions to customers, Polytec announced. Earnings were also impacted by significantly reduced volume calls, a series of extremely short-notice order cancellations by automotive customers, and increased costs. As a result, EBITDA slumped by 3.2% and net profit fell by just over a quarter to EUR 7 mn. In addition, net liabilities increased by slightly more than one fifth to EUR 79.6 mn.

For 2022, the management around CEO Markus Huemer is currently not providing a forecast: Uncertainties caused by the ongoing economic turmoil, the shortage of feedstocks and semiconductors, the disruptions in international supply chains, and the consequences of the war in Ukraine are just too great, according to a statement from the company. Additionally, the company cannot accurately estimate the extent to which it will be able to include the significantly increased costs in price negotiations.

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