Accell Group reported EBIT grew 47 percent in 2021 on a 6.2 percent sales gain. Highlights of the year for the cycling giant include:

  • Net sales of €1,377 million, up 6.2 percent despite ongoing component shortages. Growth was driven by higher sales of
    parts & accessories, mainly volume-driven, and higher bicycle sales due to improved pricing and mix offsetting
    declining volumes.
  • EBIT of €110.1 million up 47.3 percent. Underlying EBIT increased by 33.7 percent to €106.6 million, reflecting a margin of 7.7 percent, up 159 basis points due to higher contribution from parts & accessories and recovery of added value margin.
  • Net profit stood at €70.0 million based on the increase in EBIT, partly offset by higher finance costs.
  • Trade working capital at 33.1 percent of net sales versus 19.4 percent in 2020 reflecting higher component inventories due to supply chain inefficiencies and additional upfront inventory investments to protect and drive future growth.
  • The negative free cash flow of €127.4 million primarily reflects the increase in component inventories, leading to an
    increase of net debt to €216.9 million.

Ton Anbeek, CEO, Accell Group, said, “In 2021 global supply chain disruptions and component shortages dominated the year. Despite this, we have seen continued sales and profit growth driven by our parts and accessories business and our ability to include inflationary effects of supply-side costs in our product pricing. To cope with supply chain disruptions our teams have taken various mitigating actions, mainly related to alternative components and sourcing. For numerous of our bikes, the bill of materials was changed in order to mitigate the disruptions. We have also made additional investments in inventory to reduce product availability issues at the expense of free cash flow.

“As part of our strategy execution, we have increased investments in our brands in 2021. As such, we are proud that our approach to bike design and innovation has again been recognized with various awards for amongst others our Lapierre Overvolt, Koga Pace, and Haibike Adventr. Thanks to our focus on product availability we have also been able to gain market share in our Western and Central European markets during the second half of 2021.

“Demand across our regions and product categories remained strong. This clearly demonstrates that cycling continues to move the world forward. At the same time, we cannot close our eyes to the significant uncertainties we face in the world today and how these can impact our business and performance. Of these uncertainties, the global supply chain disruptions and component shortages currently form the most tangible challenge which we expect to continue throughout 2022. That said, we remain confident that with the measures we have put in place and will continue to take, we are on track to meet the majority of our 2022 targets.”

Accell’s bicycle brands include Haibike, Winora, Ghost, Batavus, Koga, Lapierre, Raleigh, Sparta, Babboe, and Carqon. XLC is its brand for bicycle parts and accessories.

Photo courtesy Haibike