Decarbon Technologies

Order intake and sales

Order intake and sales at Decarbon Technologies were below the prior-year levels. The low order intake was mainly attributable to slower market growth and the deferral by customers of plant engineering projects. The market-related decline in order intake in the water electrolysis business of thyssenkrupp nucera and in cement plant engineering was only partially offset by growth in chemical plant engineering and in the Rothe Erde wind power business. As a result of the decline in order intake, sales of thyssenkrupp nucera and in cement plant engineering also fell; in chemical plant engineering, sales were down year-on-year due to the phasing out of major projects. At Rothe Erde, sales were almost at the prior-year level. The increase in sales in the wind power business was offset by a cyclical decline in the industrial business.

Adjusted EBIT

Compared with the prior year, adjusted EBIT increased significantly in the reporting year. With the exception of Rothe Erde, which almost matched its good prior-year earnings, all businesses increased their earnings. The main influencing factors were lower extraordinary additional costs in cement plant engineering, positive one-time effects in chemical plant engineering and a profitable project mix in the thyssenkrupp nucera hydrogen business. APEX measures – especially restructuring measures, efficiency improvements and the optimization of procurement – also had a positive effect on adjusted earnings.

Special items

There were no material special items during the reporting period.

Investments

Investments were significantly above the prior-year level. One driver of this increase was the higher development-related investment at thyssenkrupp nucera. Uhde also raised investment compared with the prior year, especially for the construction of a demonstration ammonia cracker in collaboration with Uniper. Rothe Erde implemented investments to strengthen its technology portfolio.