The AMS-Osram group has felt the global shortage of chips.
(Photo: Reuters)
Munich The new lighting and sensor technology specialist AMS Osram wants to part with other parts of the company. “On the way to realigning and restructuring our portfolio, we announced three divestments and dissolved the joint venture between Osram and Continental and are now driving further divestments,” said CEO Alexander Everke on Tuesday.
Two years ago, after a long wrangling, the sensor manufacturer AMS took over the larger German lighting company Osram and later took it off the stock exchange. The first full financial year as a combined company went well – however, the company felt the shortage of components. This made business difficult, among other things, in the car and consumer sectors.
In the fourth quarter, revenues fell – also due to portfolio changes – by 13 percent to 1.4 billion dollars (around 1.2 billion euros). The adjusted operating return fell from 16.7 to 9.6 percent. AMS Osram was thus within the range of its forecasts.
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“The market imbalances persisted in the second half of 2021, particularly in the automotive market, and led to sales delays in the automotive supply chains as a result of production cuts by car manufacturers,” said Everke. From today’s perspective, he assumes that the situation will continue “for a considerable period of this year”.
For the full year 2021, the new group achieved sales of 5.8 billion dollars (around 5.1 billion euros) and an adjusted operating return on sales (EBIT) of ten percent. The semiconductors chip division contributed two-thirds of sales last year.
Since the takeover, the Austrians have trimmed the portfolio. Most recently, AMS Osram sold the plant cultivation lighting specialist Fluence for 272 million dollars (around 238 million euros) to the world lighting market leader Signify.
The group had previously announced, among other things, the dissolution of a joint venture with Conti. The business of the former joint venture, which remained with AMS Osram, is now among the other candidates for sale.
For the current first quarter, the group expects sales of 1.37 to 1.47 billion dollars (around 1.2 to 1.29 billion euros) and an adjusted return on sales of eight to eleven percent. In the future, Osram wants to publish the results primarily in euros.
More: In view of the lack of chips, car manufacturers rely on luxury models.