Increase in revenue

Global automotive and industrial supplier Schaeffler increased its revenue to 14.0 billion euro (prior year: 13.3 billion euro) in 2017, growing by 5.9 percent at constant currency.
The company’s EBIT margin for 2017 amounted to 11.3 percent (prior year: 12.7 percent). The decrease is primarily due to expenses for the program for the future “Agenda 4 plus One”.
Net income attributable to shareholders increased by approximately 14 percent to 980 million euro (prior year: 859 million euro) nonetheless, the highest ever in the history of the Schaeffler Group.
In 2017, the Schaeffler Group increased its capital expenditures by 127 million euro to 1,273 million euro (prior year: 1,146 million euro) and created approximately 3,500 new jobs.
The number of employees rose to more than 90,000 (prior year: approximately 86,700) by the end of 2017. Despite current imponderables, the outlook for the year 2018 remains generally positive.
The above mentioned future program “Agenda 4 plus One”, launched in 2016, has now been expanded to comprise 20 initiatives. The program is structured into four plus one categories: “Customer focus”, “Operational excellence”, “Financial flexibility”, “Leadership and talent management”, and – as the “plus One” – “Securing long-term competitiveness and value creation”. These categories are further broken down into 20 individual initiatives, including “E-Mobility”, “Industry 4.0” and “Digital Agenda”.
The objective of the “Agenda 4 plus One” program is to sustainably grow the Schaeffler Group’s value and secure the group’s competitiveness. The program will add some €300 million to Schaeffler’s earnings by 2022.
It is also the basis on which the company intends to bring its EBIT margin before special items back up to its long-term average of 12 to 13 percent and achieve the financial targets set for 2020.
In addition, Schaeffler will invest about a billion euro in relation to the “Agenda 4 plus One” program in order to safeguard the Schaeffler Group’s operating profitability.