STARK Group completes transformative financial year with strong performance
STARK Group announces results for the financial year 2019/20 and publishes its annual report.
2019/20 has been an extraordinary financial year, which delivered strong underlying performance while being impacted by major events.
The transformative acquisition of STARK Deutschland in Germany almost doubled net sales to more than EUR 4 billion and expanded the Group’s network substantially to 422 locations in 5 markets. Organically, the company continued its strong sales momentum and margin progression.
Net sales grew by 78% to EUR 4,095 million, including the impact of 10 months of operation in Germany. Adjusted for acquisitions and currency changes, organic growth was 2.5%. In the Nordics, particularly Denmark and Sweden enjoyed good sales momentum while the new German business unit delivered a very satisfactory result with an estimated organic growth of close to 3%.
Adjusted operating profit (EBITDA) was up 56% at EUR 184 million pre IFRS16 and grew organically by 16%, driven by scale advantages, strategic sourcing initiatives, and effective management of operating expenses.
“I’m impressed with the performance of our organisation in a year that has been very far from normal. Several large acquisitions and the COVID-19 pandemic provided opportunities for our company, but also challenges. All our five business units have performed very well, and we have again lifted our adjusted EBITDA margin in the Nordics, now from 5.1% to 5.7%,” says STARK Group CFO Sisse Fjelsted Rasmussen
“Our strong growth and margin expansion in the Nordics over the last couple of years is a testament to the strength of our strategy and business model. We have chosen to focus on serving small- and medium sized enterprises in the renovation, maintenance, and improvements market, where our role in the value chain is very important for customers and suppliers. This strategy provides us with higher margins and a certain level of resilience against macroeconomic fluctuations,” says Sisse Fjelsted Rasmussen and continues:
“Now it’s time to leverage our proven Nordic strategy in Germany to drive further performance improvements and we see significant potential to unlock further value and enter additional synergistic acquisitions across Northern Europe.”
Together with the annual report, STARK Group also publishes its Sustainability Report 2019/20, showing a continued strong commitment to solving current and future environmental and social challenges by sourcing products responsibly, drive efficient and safe operations and enable customers to make informed decisions on sustainable construction.
STARK Group is a leading business-to-business distributor of heavy building materials for the construction industry in the Nordics and Germany, with a strategic focus on serving small- and medium sized enterprises (SME) in the resilient renovation, maintenance, and improvements (RMI) market. STARK Group serves approx. 235,000 customers from 422 locations. Headquartered in Denmark, STARK Group has 10,000 employees in Denmark (incl. Greenland), Sweden, Norway, Finland, and Germany. The Group has doubled in size over the last couple of years through acquisitions and organic growth, and today, holds a leading national or regional position in all markets.
