“Current trends and long-term growth drivers for our industry remain intact,” CEO Frankie Ng said on a conference call ahead of an investor event in Istanbul on Wednesday. The cost-cutting program implemented, aimed at regularly saving more than CHF 50 million from 2023, helps mitigate short-term market fluctuations. This will result in a one-off cost of approximately 35 million.
Despite sustained high organic growth, it will not be possible to keep operating margin at the level of the previous year in the current year, continued the CEO. In the first ten months of 2022, growth at the group level accelerated from the half of the year to 6.2 percent. However, margin development will take a heavier-than-expected burden from inflation and the effects of the Ukraine war on some European end markets.
In addition to the planned reduction of approximately 1,500 jobs worldwide, the repositioning of some activities within the network will also help slow the rise in inflation-related costs. “We are very confident that we can deliver a strong operational performance next year thanks to these measures,” said CFO Dominik de Daniel. Strategic orientation, such as the transition to digital platforms, will continue unabated.
(SDA)