Banner achieves record sales

Banner achieves record sales

The focus of the 2022/23 financial year was on challenging conditions in terms of costs and the supply chain. The car battery manufacturer is now drawing positive conclusions and is able to achieve a new record turnover of 307 million euros, an increase in sales of more than seven percent compared to the previous year. The market entry with a partner in China and the extension of the licensing partnership with Duracell are intended to promote further market expansion in Europe and Asia. “As an internationally operating company in series production, the massive increase in costs from raw materials to labor costs and of course energy prices have resulted in significant location disadvantages for us,” explains the commercial director of the Banner Group, Andreas Bawart. Unfortunately, no improvement is foreseeable in the short term. The EU and therefore also Austria have introduced so many requirements, the implementation of which would mean a massive increase in administrative costs for medium-sized companies. “In international competition, as a European manufacturer you quickly fall behind compared to competitors from Asia,” says Andreas Bawart.

While the original equipment market segment declined and made a loss in the 2021/22 financial year due to turbulence due to a lack of semiconductors and cable harnesses, this area recovered somewhat in 2022/23 thanks to improved supply. The share of original equipment manufacturers in the Automotive business unit is currently just under 30 percent. Around 70 percent of sales are generated in the aftermarket. In order to be able to adapt production capacities to increasing sales, Banner has invested more than 25 million euros in the development of the company headquarters in Leonding over the past three years. The Banner Group invests around ten million euros annually in innovation and development work. The group currently employs a total of 785 people across Europe.

The Duracell Automotive program “made by Banner” has been a success story for almost ten years. “Thanks to the combination of the world's best-known battery brand, which has the famous Duracell rabbit as an advertising medium, we were able to tap into additional markets and target groups with our know-how as a leading quality manufacturer of starter and on-board network batteries with this premium program for banners,” emphasizes Bawart. To date, Banner Duracell batteries have delivered to customers in more than 45 countries, primarily active in the automotive parts and battery wholesale and battery retail sectors. The focus of sales, with a share of around 80 percent, is on continental Europe. The Middle East and Africa regions contribute around 20 percent of sales. "Our goal for the next few years is to further expand Duracell sales with a focus on Europe. We still see great sales potential for the brand there," says Bawart.

Since the company was founded, Banner has been putting used batteries into an orderly recycling cycle. This means that 99.9 percent of the components of old batteries are reused and valuable raw materials are returned to the production cycle. The Environmental Forum for Starter Batteries (UFS), with Banner as one of the founding members, has been able to collect and recycle around 21 million used vehicle batteries and thus around 225,000 tonnes of lead across Austria over the past 27 years. "We use over 95 percent recycled lead in our production process. The battery boxes we produce also consist of 80 percent recycled polypropylene. In addition, the sulfuric acid collected from used batteries is processed into sodium sulfate, which in turn is used to produce detergent and glass," explains Bawart. In addition, the expansion of the photovoltaic system by around 1 MWp (megawatt peak) was started. This is scheduled to be put into operation this year. In addition, the office building in Leonding is being renovated. In order to reduce the building's energy consumption to a minimum, the facade is being redesigned and the roof is being insulated. A total of around three million euros will be invested. Andreas Bawart said: “We see our investments as an important contribution to the energy transition and want to continue to actively shape it.”

As part of the “Agenda 2030” strategy, the Banner Group is taking another significant expansion step and wants to significantly expand its presence in China, one of the world's largest sales markets. Banner is expanding into the Chinese market through the battery producer LEOCH through a licensing partnership, whereby innovative applications for new areas of application will also be pursued together. LEOCH, an internationally known and market-leading Chinese battery producer that sells its products in over 100 countries around the world and achieves annual sales of over 1.9 billion US dollars, will in the future manufacture certain premium products under the word-image brand Banner in China and offer them to the Chinese market. “With this licensing partnership we are able to significantly expand our reputation in China,” says Andreas Bawart. For automobile manufacturers, current and future developments are clearly moving towards e-mobility. But that doesn't mean that classic lead-acid batteries have become obsolete. "In my opinion, vehicles with combustion engines will continue to make up a significant share of the retrofit market in the future. There are currently no alternatives to the combustion engine in the long-distance truck segment. Overall, we continue to see growth opportunities for starter and supply batteries in the future," summarizes Bawart.