PRIMEPULSE is consistently on track towards the one billion mark in revenues. Following a very successful business year 2018, the technology-oriented Group based in Munich continues its dynamic growth in the current year and ambitiously pursues to expand its market position.
„We’ve just written the next chapter of our success story with high double-digit growth rates in 2018“, PRIMEPULSE co-founder and CEO Klaus Weinmann summarizes the development of the Group. PRIMEPULSE’s consolidated revenues showed strong growth of 85.4 percent up to EUR 785.3 million with an equally impressive increase of group EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization).
Review
Executing its ambitious growth strategy, PRIMEPULSE Group acquired several companies and shareholdings in the year 2018. The acquisition of KATEK, one of the leading electronics service providers in Germany, was the most important one for the Group and expanded PRIMEPULSE Group’s activities in the future market of electronics. Beside that, the vision technology division, which covers the activities of STEMMER IMAGING (member of PRIMEPULSE since June 2017), was strengthened. The successful IPO of STEMMER IMAGING in 2018, one of the leading European machine vision providers, facilitates the accelerated growth course and the strategic expansion of the business.
„So the business year 2018 of the PRIMEPULSE Group was dominated by our buy-build-and-develop-strategy. Our qualified and experienced team consults in M&A processes as well as in post-merger integrations. That means, we carry out an active, partnership-based investment management and consequently pursue the further development of the companies to ensure a sustainable value creation of the entire Group”, says Klaus Weinmann.
The impressive Group EBITDA increase of 83 percent up to EUR 62.4 million on an adjusted basis, taking into account the extraordinary costs due to the IPO and IFRS transition of STEMMER IMAGING and PRIMEPULSE, proves PRIMEPULSE’s success. Klaus Weinmann underlines: „I would like to thank all PRIMEPULSE Group’s employees as well as our customers and business partners for these excellent results.”
Outlook
Since the beginning of this year, EMS provider ETL in Mauerstetten, as part of KATEK Group, enhances PRIMEPULSE’s electronics division. KATEK, which is pooling and jointly marketing the companies Katek GmbH in Grassau, Steca in Memmingen and ETL in Mauerstetten, is among the Top 3 German EMS providers and plans to quickly expand its market position in Germany and Europe. More than ever, EMS (Electronic Manufacturing Services) business is being driven by trends such as IoT (Internet of Things), Embedded Computing, and the rapid development of new technologies. Given the numerous new applications and services made possible by digitalization, the EMS market promises great potential for growth that PRIMEPULSE wants to realize organically and by acquiring further companies.
At the same time, the market for machine vision, a key technology in the context of the digitalization of industrial production processes, is being strongly driven by topics such as Industry 4.0, Industrial Automation and Industrial IoT. Klaus Weinmann sees STEMMER IMAGING perfectly positioned to make full use of this enormous potential: „The opportunities are huge and almost unlimited, by the way also for non-industrial applications, that use complementary technologies for image processing – for example in the areas of entertainment or transportation.” The latest acquisition of Spanish Infaimon Group by STEMMER IMAGING not only sets an important cornerstone for international expansion. The acquisition also means a significant strategic expansion of the software and technology portfolio with subsystems such as bin picking applications in robotics, which play a key role in Industry 4.0 and smart factories.
Also in the traditional division Industry of PRIMEPULSE, which includes the Air Technology, Gardentech and Automotive Business, the digitalization offers promising opportunities. For instance, AL-KO Aircloud, a design program based on cloud services, that is used for real-time configurations of individual devices and applications already within the planning period of construction projects. AL-KO Gardentech is working on trends in Smart Gardening, whereas Automotive focuses on E-Mobility, that is a priority for new projects already today.
“I am often asked, where do I see PRIMEPULSE in five years from now. We clearly remain on our growth course. Our focus is primarily on acquisitions around digitalization, IoT and Industrial Automation. In these areas we see attractive investment opportunities, on the one hand due to the growth trends mentioned, on the other hand due to the consolidation in the market for machine vision or EMS. We offer excellent future prospects for companies that either face the challenge to fully use their growth potential or to find a new shareholder, for example as part of the succession planning.“
Klaus Weinmann, CEO & Co-Founder
The passionate entrepreneur, being co-founder of today’s TecDAX-listed IT company CANCOM and having led it to the one billion mark in revenues, underlines: „We have a clear vision and concrete goals for the PRIMEPULSE Group. That means, we will see the two billion mark in revenues with a high profitability within the next five years at the latest.“
