Dear customers and partners
Dear employees,
We are all currently concerned about the military attack on a sovereign state in Europe. An attack that is causing great suffering and will influence events around the world for a long time to come. Without hesitation, the employees of the TÜV NORD GROUP have committed themselves to humanitarian aid in the crisis area, as well as to securing the energy supply in Germany. Every day, we actively promote peaceful, democratic and respectful coexistence between people and countries in more than 100 countries, thus living the values of our diverse and varied corporate culture.
The rapid change in economic and social conditions worldwide is increasing the need of many people for a safe and sustainable world. The focus is particularly on how we deal with the finite resources of our planet, cyber security in the digital world, the utilization of outer space and the effects of environmental risks for future generations. Our customers and we as TÜV NORD GROUP have recognized that the state of our planet calls for action.
The urgently needed changes can only be implemented through technological innovation, digitalization and digital networking as well as decisive action. New mobility, the energy transition and the protection of the environment and health stand for sustainable action. We are first looking at ourselves as a company, where more and more services are being provided with the help of digitally supported remote technologies and therefore no longer exclusively in person. Following the great success of certification audits via remote technology in the first coronavirus year of 2020, we significantly increased the number of remote inspections carried out with digital video support in the Industrial Services division in 2021. Other areas are also relying on digital remote technologies: TÜV NORD Education has been organizing online job fairs since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, where up to 500 job seekers can present themselves to potential employers in virtual rooms at the same time.
In energy-efficient conversions and new buildings at our sites, building fabric that cannot be retained is consistently recycled in line with the circular economy. This applies to the TÜV NORD CAMPUS ESSEN for 1,500 employees, which was inaugurated in fall 2021, as well as to our food laboratory in Pune, India. There, new solar modules on the roofs save around 130 tons of CO2 per year. We have set ourselves ambitious targets: We want to make our company climate-neutral by the end of this decade. The results we have achieved so far are encouraging.
The daily commitment to the safety of people and technology and to effective environmental protection once again motivated many people to become part of the TÜV NORD GROUP in 2021. The total number of employees grew to 14,253. A warm welcome to all new members of the TÜV NORD Family worldwide!
The requirements for vehicle and IT test engineers for the mobility of the future and automated driving in particular have increased again in 2021. In future, vehicle manufacturers will have to provide evidence of a cybersecurity and software update management system as part of type approval. TÜV NORD Mobilität has been accredited for these tasks and is part of the Berlin-based BeIntelli practical project for autonomous driving, which demonstrates the implementation of complex technologies in “smart” vehicles and infrastructures. For the international automotive umbrella organization FIA, TÜViT has investigated how a highly secure cybersecurity architecture should be designed in the vehicle in the future to ensure protection against cyberattacks in automated driving.
Hydrogen will play a decisive role for mobility and industry in the future. Three business divisions have been highly specialized in this technology for years. In order to offer integrated customer solutions from a single source as quickly as possible, the strengths of the individual specialist areas have been pooled in a cross-divisional HydroHub. The aims of the new HydroHub are to provide expert advice on tested hydrogen production, trust-building and compatible hydrogen infrastructures and support for ambitious hydrogen lighthouse projects from a single source. We are also involved in the implementation of a Europe-wide hydrogen certification system that the new German government wants to implement. You can read more about TÜV NORD Group's hydrogen activities in this annual report.
One focus of the Group's activities is the international expansion of its market presence in the area of Testing, Inspection and Certification (TIC). ALTER TECHNOLOGY is the first and so far only notified body in Europe that is authorized to certify drones. Two locations in Croatia were developed into customer-oriented hubs for the entire Balkan region in 2021. Under the TÜV NORD ADRIATIC label, branches have already opened in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Serbia, with more to follow soon in Slovenia and the Croatian metropolis of Split. In Qatar, TÜV NORD Gulf has commenced business operations for TIC services in the entire region.
Overall, the international units contributed more to TÜV NORD Group's business success in 2021 than ever before. In a year that was again characterized by severe travel and contact restrictions due to the corona pandemic, the TÜV NORD GROUP was able to increase its relevant key financial figures and achieve the highest turnover in its history at 1.37 billion euros. The operating result before special items (EBIT) rose by 52.9 percent compared to the previous year. On behalf of the Executive Board and Group Management, I would like to thank all employees for their excellent performance. I would also like to thank all our customers and suppliers for their trust in our performance, as well as our shareholders and the Supervisory and Works Councils.
I wish you all health and success in 2022, but above all peaceful coexistence.
Yours
Dr. Dirk Stenkamp
Chairman of the Executive Board