Lufthansa Technik posts successful third-quarter, raises annual forecast

Lufthansa Technik (LHT) is heading for yet another record annual result after it had already achieved a new Adjusted EBIT record of €554 million last year. An even better result is now expected for the full year 2023. The company had initially expected an Adjusted EBIT at a comparable level to the previous year, but has now raised its forecasts lightly. Earlier this year, Lufthansa Technik had already reported the best first half-year in the company’s history in terms of earnings.

“The aviation sector is recovering much faster than expected. This is benefiting us because we are succeeding in exploiting many of the resulting opportunities for us thanks to the great commitment of our employees,” says Dr William Willms, Chief Financial Officer of Lufthansa Technik. “Our components business in particular had a very strong summer. Material is in great demand on the market. We continue to attract customers through better material availability compared with competitors, among other things.” The bottom line for earnings after the third quarter of 2023 is now an Adjusted EBIT of €459 million (+7 percent) despite headwinds from the dollar exchange rate and high inflation, while LHT’s revenue increased to €4.8 billion (+20 percent). The company also successfully secured the business of the future; as of late September, the company had signed more than 580 new contracts this year, compared to around 700 in total in 2022.

The number of employees increased to 22,290. “We are in a position to finance all of this thanks to our good earnings,” said Willms. “Obviously, managing the influx of such a high number of new employees is a strenuous task for many in the company, but these efforts will pay off for us.” Investments in infrastructure are also being driven forward, construction measures that were halted during the COVID-crisis are being resumed. One such example is the construction of a new hydraulics workshop at the Hamburg site where the Lufthansa Technik is investing a mid-double-digit million sum.

Success is also evident in the digitisation efforts across all business units with which Lufthansa Technik is transforming itself at its core. Just a few days ago, the company had announced the foundation of ViTech, a joint venture with CleverPine AD, a leading provider of software engineering services based in Bulgaria. ViTech will set up a product-oriented software engineering and data science centre that will develop high-quality solutions exclusively for Lufthansa Technik’s digitisation needs. Effective immediately, ViTech will hire 85 software engineers to work in Sofia. (£1.00 = €1.15 at time of publication).