PB ENG VDL Groep showed recovery in 2021

PRESS RELEASE

Eindhoven, Friday, 25 March 2022

Despite turbulent conditions, VDL
Groep showed recovery in 2021

2021 was a hectic year for VDL Groep. External factors caused substantial turbulence.
Nevertheless, the industrial family business in the high-end manufacturing industry with its
head office in Eindhoven showed resilience: despite the fact that it did not achieve the
results realised before the coronavirus pandemic, 2021 brought recovery. The year 2022
has once again been marked by turbulence due to external factors. However, VDL Groep
continues to invest and innovate.

Picture caption: VDL Groep head office in Eindhoven.

The combined annual revenue amounted to €4.955 billion in 2021, an increase of 6% in
comparison with the annual revenue in 2020 (€4.686 billion). The net operating result rose from
€97 million in 2020 to €145 million in 2021. By way of comparison, combined sales in 2019
amounted to €5.780 billion and the net result to €156 million. In week 11 of 2022, the order

1

portfolio (excluding the Car Assembly division) stood at €1.734 billion, compared to €1.441 billion
in week 11 of 2021. The number of employees rose during the same period by 1,196 to 15,926.

‘Operationally strong recovery’
‘Partly on the basis of our very well-filled order portfolio, we had strong confidence from the start of
2021 that we would recover from the coronavirus dip in 2020,’ says President and CEO Willem van
der Leegte. ‘At the same time, there were also challenges and uncertainties due to global trade
conflicts and the coronavirus pandemic. The limited availability of materials and price fluctuations
meant that we faced unbalanced supply chains. Until the end of the third quarter of 2021, we
applied for emergency wage cost subsidies (NOW) in relation to the coronavirus pandemic totalling
€70 million, which was used to continue salary payments for employees. Partly as a result of this,
no jobs were lost. Our strategy of spreading risks through diversification of activities meant that the
first half year of 2021 (combined revenue of €2.5 billion, net result of €69 million) was reasonably
good. In the third quarter, deliveries were somewhat delayed and in the fourth quarter, sales were
once again reasonable. Below the line, we are certainly not dissatisfied and we are seeing a strong
recovery in the operational results, despite the fact that we are not yet back at the level of before
the coronavirus crisis. We also faced a cyber attack in the autumn, as a result of which we had to
work offline for almost a month. However, at least 95% of the deliveries were back up to speed
before the end of 2021.’

Subcontracting
The sales of the Subcontracting division increased from €1.503 billion in 2020 to €1.851 billion in
2021. This increase of 23% was mainly due to the fact that the companies active in this division
prepared positively to facilitate customer growth. The focus on high-quality innovation has further
strengthened our position in this sub-market. The Subcontracting division is profitable. The order
portfolio rose from €559 million in week 11 of 2021 to €855 million in week 11 of 2022.

Car Assembly
The revenue of the Car Assembly division decreased by 12% from €2.320 billion in 2020 to €2.051
billion in 2021. The year was closed with a positive result. The coronavirus pandemic is still having
a substantial impact on the global automotive industry. As a result of a world-wide shortage of
electronic components, production at VDL Nedcar was halted for as many as 48 days in 2021. In
the first two months of 2022, 18 production days were already lost for the same reason.
We announced in June that VDL Nedcar would build vehicles for the American start-up Canoo.
However, together with Canoo, we reported in mid-December that this partnership would not be
continued. Canoo and VDL Groep are investigating possibilities for continuation of their
collaboration, separately from VDL Nedcar.
At the end of 2021, we informed our VDL Nedcar employees that we are conducting talks with the
American company Rivian on collaboration on various fronts. These talks are continuing. In 2021,
105,214 Minis and BMWs were built at VDL Nedcar (production volume in 2020: 125,666 cars).
Disruptions in the supply chain resulting from the war in Ukraine halted production in our car
manufacturing plant in Born from week 10 of 2022. Preparations were made to resume production
on Monday, 28 March.

Buses & coaches
The sales of the Buses & Coaches division increased by 13%, from €339 million in 2020 to €384
million in 2021. This is a loss-making division. The coronavirus pandemic retains a strong grip on
the Buses & Coaches division, and in particular the coach activities. The travel sector has not yet
recovered to the pre-pandemic level, as a result of which demand for touring cars is virtually zero.

2

Nevertheless, we announced deliveries of dozens of touring car buses in 2021, which were often
used for public and inter-city transport. Because governments, as a contracting authority or as a
direct customer, must ensure a structurally covering public transport network and do not want to
delay climate goals, public transport companies continue to focus on making the fleet more
sustainable by using new zero-emission vehicles. VDL is well positioned as a forerunner in the
field of electric mobility. We announced various orders in 2021, including our biggest order for
electric urban buses so far, involving 102 electric buses for Oslo.
The path taken towards concentrating production of electric city buses in Valkenswaard and
Roeselare is taking shape. In February 2022, we celebrated the start of construction of our new
hyper-modern, CO2-neutral factory in Roeselare, from which the first new electric buses produced
will drive out in the first quarter of 2023. We are reinforcing our ambitions in this way: we want to
continue to pioneer e-mobility in Europe. Even in these difficult times for the Buses & Coaches
division, our view remains focused on the long term and we continue to invest in innovation.
Among other things, we are working on further development of our VDL Futura touring car and the
new generation of electric city bus VDL Citea. We have reached the milestone of 1,000 electric
buses, operating in 11 countries. Together with these buses, we are on the way to 200 million
clean, electric kilometres. This is equivalent to 5,000 times around the world. The Buses &
Coaches order portfolio decreased from €510 million in week 11 of 2021 to €421 million in week 11
of 2022.

Finished products
Our companies that make up the Finished Products division jointly generated €669 million in
revenue over the past year, compared to €524 million in 2020. This 28% increase can be
explained by the fact that reduced market demand as a result of the coronavirus pandemic has
recovered. The Finished products division is profitable. The order portfolio increased over a 12-
month period from €372 million in week 11 of 2021 to €458 million in week 11 of 2022.

Outlook
The order portfolio of VDL Groep (excluding the Car Assembly division) increased by as much as
30% in 2021 and remains at a high level. Under normal circumstances, this growth would be
translated into an increase in revenue, but we continue to face uncertainties as a result of
disruptive external factors on the global stage.

About VDL Groep
Strength through cooperation. This is the basis of VDL Groep, an international industrial family
business with its head office in Eindhoven, the Netherlands. This business was established in 1953
by Pieter van der Leegte. Initially, VDL Groep specialised in metalworking. When his son Wim van
der Leegte took over the company in 1966, the company started specialising in high-tech
subcontracting in industries such as the semiconductor industry, later adding plastics processing
and the development, production and sale of buses and coaches to its portfolio. VDL Groep is a
major player in the fields of subcontracting and semi-finished products and manufactures its own
finished products, such as suspension systems, automated car plant systems, heat exchangers
and container handling equipment. With VDL Nedcar in Born, it has the only car plant in the
Netherlands where serial assembly for third parties takes place.
VDL Groep innovates through a combination of professionalism, entrepreneurship and high-quality
machines. The group of companies combines the strength of a multinational with the flat
organisation structure and open, informal working atmosphere of a family business where growth
opportunities and continuity take precedence. The third Van der Leegte family generation has been

3

at the group’s helm since 2016. VDL Groep has over 15,000 employees and operates in 19
countries. The group comprises 105 operating companies, each with its own specialism, working
together intensively. In 2021, the combined annual revenue was €4.995 billion.
www.vdlgroep.com
For additional information, please contact:
VDL Groep - Communications Department - Telephone +31 (0)40 292 50 00
Miel Timmers, Spokesperson - Mobile +31 (0)6 14 76 70 66

4