Sales and earnings growth affected

• Increase in sales and total output in the 9‐month period, earnings slightly below previous year’s level
• Decline in sales and earnings on a quarterly basis due to supply bottlenecks
• Plant closures, reduced production volumes and raw material shortages at main suppliers lead to production downtime for motorhomes and significant increase in inventories due to unfinished vehicles and production downtime
• Extensive investment programme announced to double production capacity to 50,000 units
• New forecast for full year 2021 published

Jandelsbrunn, Germany. Knaus Tabbert AG, a leading manufacturer of recreational vehicles in Europe, was not able to continue the growth of the first half of the year in the third quarter of 2021. Interrupted supply chains and the global shortage of semiconductors led to a lack of deliveries, particularly of motorised chassis from FIAT and MAN. As a result, significantly fewer vehicles were produced and delivered. Many vehicles that could only be partially completed led to a strong build‐up of inventories, which is also reflected in the good overall output.

The delivery delays are the result of the ongoing Corona pandemic, worldwide problems with the transport of goods and other imbalances in supply and demand. Missing or delayed deliveries of specific components such as adhesives, windows, wood, aluminium and home technology components such as refrigerators or heaters repeatedly lead to production disruptions across locations.

"Knaus Tabbert has not been able to detach itself from the global and cross‐industry supply chain problems. The good successes of the first half‐year are therefore not enough to compensate for the weak third quarter. We are dependent on the reliable supply of vehicle chassis and other assemblies. This has not been guaranteed for months,‟ says Wolfgang Speck, CEO of Knaus Tabbert AG, explaining the development in the past quarter.

From the Group’s point of view, however, sales for the nine‐month period increased by almost 11 percent to EUR 634.5 million, compared to EUR 573.1 million in the same period of the previous year. In terms of segments, this corresponds to an increase of almost 15 percent to EUR 89.9 million (previous year: 78.3 million) in the luxury segment and 10 percent to EUR 544.5 million (previous year: EUR 494.8 million) in the significantly larger premium segment.

Including other operating income of EUR 2.1 million, total operating revenue for the nine‐month period increased by 17.0 percent to EUR 675.3 million (previous year: EUR 577.3 million).  In the third quarter of 2021, however, total output declined by 3% due to the delivery bottlenecks.

From a nine‐month perspective, the nine‐month EBITDA adjusted for special charges showed a slight decline of 1.7% to EUR 46.5 million (EUR 47.4 million).  The adjusted EBITDA margin on a nine‐month basis is 7.3 percent compared to 8.3 percent in the same period last year.

The strong demand for recreational vehicles from Knaus Tabbert continued with unchanged positive dynamics. With 37,896 units, the Group recorded an order backlog of EUR 1.4 billion as of the balance sheet date 30 September 2021, more than double the figure at the end of the 2020 financial year.

In view of the increasing demand for recreational vehicles, the Group announced a further investment programme with a total volume of around EUR 220 million in August. The aim is not only to double production capacities to 50,000 units by 2025, but also to set trends in the areas of digitalisation, sustainability and comfort. To this end, Knaus Tabbert had also presented numerous innovations of all group brands as well as the concept study for a fully electric motorhome at the Caravan Salon Düsseldorf.

In view of the current delays in the supply of chassis and the announced growth in the coming years, Knaus Tabbert will integrate two additional leading manufacturers of vehicle chassis into its product portfolio. From next spring, this is expected to successively reduce the existing bottleneck of basic vehicles, while offering customers additional choices for the configuration of their vehicle.

Taking into account the successful first half of the year and the challenges in the second half, the company now expects Group sales for the 2021 financial year to increase by 7 percent to around EUR 850 million (previous year: EUR 794.6 million) and an adjusted EBITDA margin of around 7 percent (previous year: 8.5 percent). 

This outlook is subject to the proviso that no new, unexpected difficulties arise along the supply chains, in production and in the completion and delivery of products.