Final figures for fiscal year 2021

Frankfurt/Main, 22 March 2022. The Amadeus FiRe Group confirms its preliminary figures for fiscal year 2021.

The declines in demand and revenue losses of 2020 due to the Corona pandemic were successfully passed. In 2021, the business volume in both segments, personnel services and training, was expanded very successfully. This even clearly exceeded the level of the pre-pandemic year 2019.

Sales revenue increased significantly by 32.9% to €372.4 million. All services within the segments showed a clearly positive development. First time for the full year, GFN’s training revenues of €27.5 million are included, up from €6.0 million in the previous year, in which only the 4th quarter was consolidated.

Operating gross profit increased by 40.6% year-on-year to €201.4 million. The operating gross profit margin improved by 3.0 percentage points to 54.1% in 2021. The main drivers of this increase are the higher share of the training segment and the very dynamic development of the permanent placement service, both with structurally higher gross profit margins.

The Amadeus FiRe Group achieves new record earnings figures in 2021. Operating EBITA grew by 61.8% to €66.5m. The operating EBITA margin improved by a substancial 3.1 percentage points to 17.8%. A very efficient organisation, digital training formats and the largely absence of the significant expansion expenses that otherwise regularly occur in the Amadeus FiRe Group led to exceptionally high productivity in 2021.

Finally, the Amadeus FiRe Group generated net profit for the period attributable to shareholders of Amadeus FiRe AG of €34.8 million in fiscal year 2021, an increase of 95.8%. Basic earnings per share for fiscal year 2021 were €6.09 compared to €3.29 in the prior year.

The balance sheet debt ratio has more than halved from a factor of 2.5 at the end of 2020 to a factor of 1.2 at the end of 2021. Of the debt raised, € 60.0 million was reduced in the course of the year.

As announced, the Management Board and Supervisory Board are pursuing a steady dividend policy. As in the previous year, 50% of the consolidated earnings per share are to be distributed to the shareholders. This means that the dividend will almost double. A dividend payout of €3.04 per share (prior year: €1.55) is proposed for fiscal 2021.

Outlook and forecast 2022

The relevant German personnel services and training markets will continue to be characterised by a shortage of qualifications and skills on the one hand and high demand for human resources and skilled workers on the other. For the Amadeus FiRe Group, as a specialist operating exclusively in Germany, this represents a positive business environment.

For fiscal year 2022, the war between Russia and Ukraine could have a profound impact on geopolitics and the global economy. However, as a professional service provider operating exclusively in Germany, direct effects on Amadeus FiRe AG are expected to be minor. Economic distortions due to sanctions, commodity prices or disrupted supply chains could indirectly lead to falling demand in individual sectors. Due to the very broad and cross-sector customer base and the current significant excess of demand, the risk of a significant impact is considered to be rather low, but cannot be ruled out.

The Amadeus FiRe Group’s objective for 2022 is to pursue a path of dynamic organisational growth in all areas. This was already initiated during the final months of 2021. In addition to the goal of growth by recruiting more employees, revenue and operating profit are expected to increase once again in both personnel services and training.

The Management Board expects to achieve significant revenue growth in the range of 11% to 14% and to exceed the operating EBITA of the previous year by 7% to 9%. The forecast is based on the assumption that the planned significant expenditures for expansion can be executed successfully.