Doppelmayr Financials - Confidence Despite Drop In Sales

Doppelmayr Holding SE posted sales revenues of 763 million euros in the 2020/21 fiscal year, which represents a fall of 12.5% over the previous year. The total operating performance decreased by 30% to 669 million euros. Both of these developments are attributable to the global Covid-19 pandemic, which hit the company’s core business – ropeways for alpine tourism applications – particularly hard. Doppelmayr nonetheless remains confident, even if Covid-19 continues to have an impact in the next few years. The projects completed in fiscal 2020/21 include major contracts such as the ropeways for the 2022 Winter Olympic Games in Beijing, the cutting-edge tricable gondola Eiger Express in Grindelwald and the biggest intralogistics solution in company history. A large number of new developments in ropeway technology equip the Group for the future.

From April 1, 2020, through March 31, 2021, Doppelmayr Holding SE achieved sales revenues of 763 million euros. A wide range of ropeway installations for ski resorts and tourist destinations as well as high-capacity material transport systems and intralogistics solutions were completed by 3,192 employees worldwide. Thomas Pichler, Executive Director of Doppelmayr Holding SE, looks to the future with confidence: “We have many customers who – like us – believe that global tourism will gradually recover and who are investing in their regions right now.” Furthermore, Austria’s government investment grant is creating incentives for the future in the Group’s core market. Worldwide, markets with a strong domestic tourism sector such as the USA or Russia are expected to see a faster recovery.

New developments in ropeway engineering

During the past year, the Doppelmayr Group launched a large number of new developments onto the market. Digitalization played a key role here. With the Kumme gondola lift in Zermatt, Doppelmayr introduced AURO, a novel system for autonomous ropeway operation. The lift is unmanned and equipped with cutting-edge, integrated technology.

Another visionary project was the tricable Eiger Express gondola lift in Grindelwald. It combines fully automated passenger and freight transport in one ropeway. This is made possible by an intelligent control system that integrates the underground intralogistics solution, the newly developed loading robot and the generously dimensioned ropeway cabins. In terms of efficient mobility, this opens up new possibilities – such as for urban applications.

A trend that has already been evident for some time is that winter destinations are moving toward year-round tourism experiences. Doppelmayr has a range of sports equipment carriers in its portfolio to support these activities. Examples include options for transporting bicycles to access bike trails or for entire bike parks. The latest innovation is the Bike Cab for gondola lifts. This guarantees high ropeway capacity combined with top comfort for passengers.

Tourism hit by pandemic

The lockdowns that dominated the past year hit tourism particularly badly. It was above all winter tourism, that traditionally accounts for around 50% of Doppelmayr’s sales revenues, that experienced significant downturns in some cases, which also affected the willingness to invest. While the sales revenues also include the completion of projects acquired prior to the pandemic, the effects are visible above all in the 30% drop in total operating performance.

Well equipped for the future

“Even if we can expect to be dealing with the pandemic globally for some time to come, we have every reason to be optimistic,” says Thomas Pichler, looking ahead to the current fiscal year. “In the past year, we launched a large number of innovations and new products onto the market. We also expanded our digital expertise. Added to this is the growing acceptance for the ropeway as an urban mobility solution in Europe as well as elsewhere. A Doppelmayr ropeway is to be built in the French capital, Paris, for instance. Tourism is also showing signs of recovery – people want to again experience the mountains and their leisure time with the ropeway, both summer and winter.”

With its current headcount, Doppelmayr is in a stable position following the first year of the pandemic. Now more than ever, employee training – from skilled workers to the more than 100 apprentices currently employed – represents a major investment in the future.

Sustainable development

In project development, Doppelmayr engineers attach great importance to the space- and resource-efficient implementation of ropeway installations. On the mountain, this means in particular the harmonious integration of the ropeway into the landscape and energy efficiency, which the Group jointly focuses on with its customers. As a mode of urban transport in the city, the benefits are obvious. Electric mobility with zero exhaust emissions and minimal impervious surfaces are major factors that give the ropeway significant advantages over other means of transport in terms of sustainability. Doppelmayr has developed a CO2 calculator that provides project-specific lifecycle assessments (LCAs) to make this transparent. As a result, an objective comparison of different means of transport for the purposes of sustainable urban mobility is now possible.

The Doppelmayr Group pursues a wide range of initiatives at all of its international sites aimed at leaving behind a minimal carbon footprint. Garaventa, for example, has installed 2,122 solar energy modules in Goldau (Switzerland), which generate 620,000 kWh of electricity per annum. István Szalai, Executive Director of Doppelmayr Holding SE, points out the latest sustainability initiatives: “Other sites such as Gassner Stahlbau in Bürs (Austria), the new LTW building and the Doppelmayr site in Wolfurt (Austria) will also soon be equipped with photovoltaic installations to produce renewable energy.”

Fact box 2020/2021 (April 1 – March 30)