As part of its ongoing work to sharpen its strategic focus,
Electrolux Group
announced today that the company has started preparations for a potential divestment of Zanussi and other non-core brands* during the coming years. A divestment would include the production facilities in
Egypt
, which produce Zanussi-branded major appliances, and production facilities for water heaters in
Egypt
and
South Africa
. Together with continued sale of non-strategic real estate, the total potential divestment value for all these assets combined is estimated to be approximately
SEK 10bn
.
"After the spin-off of the professional business our focus is on sustainable consumer experience innovation and the consumer lifetime journey, driven by digitalization and consumer direct interaction. The Group strategy is geared towards growing profitably in selected home appliance categories in the mid- and premium segments, primarily under our main brands Electrolux,
AEG
and Frigidaire. The actions announced today are one key part in this ongoing sharpening and will provide resources to execute our strategy at speed and scale, as well as contributing to achieving our targeted capital structure", says
Electrolux Group
President & CEO
Jonas Samuelson
.
"In the current challenging macro environment, focus and strategic portfolio management are more important than ever to be able to provide attractive and relevant consumer experience innovations under our strategic brands. Further structural simplification and complexity reductions are also being evaluated."
Group net sales in 2022 of the brands and water heater category to be divested were
SEK 7.1bn
, equivalent to approximately 5% of Group net sales. Of this,
SEK 3.7bn
relates to net sales in business area
Europe
, with a majority in
UK
and Benelux. Net sales of
SEK 3.4bn
relates to business area
Asia-Pacific
,
Middle East
and
Africa
, of which
SEK 2.0bn
in
Egypt
, and
SEK 1.1bn
in
South Africa
. The total number of employees in 2022 was 2,238 in
Egypt
and 856 in
South Africa
.
"Although the water heater businesses in
Egypt
and
South Africa
are profitable and the brands we are now looking at divesting are all well-known in their respective markets, these assets do not have sufficiently strong synergies with our core strategy to warrant the required focus and investment from
Electrolux Group
. Therefore, we believe in the opportunity for greater value creation and growth under different ownership. We will of course of evaluate the attractiveness of potential offers on a case-by-case basis", continues
Jonas Samuelson
.
The real estate divestments include among others, the previously announced production facilities in
Memphis
and Nyíregyháza, where production either has ceased or will be discontinued.
Société Générale acts as advisor in the brands and water heater category divestment processes.
*Brands in-scope for divestment include primarily the major appliances brands Zanussi, Ideal, Faure, Zanker, Rosenlew, Elektro-Helios and Zoppas and the water heater brands Olympic Electric and
Kwikot
.
This is information that
AB Electrolux
is obliged to make public pursuant to the EU Market Abuse Regulation. The information was submitted for publication, through the agency of the contact person set out below, on
July 20, 2023
at 07.50 CET.
For further information, please contact:
Sophie Arnius, Investor Relations, +46 70 590 80 72
Electrolux Group Press Hotline, +46 8 657 65 07
Electrolux Group
is a leading global appliance company that has shaped living for the better for more than 100 years. We reinvent taste, care and wellbeing experiences for millions of people, always striving to be at the forefront of sustainability in society through our solutions and operations. Under our group of leading appliance brands, including Electrolux,
AEG
and Frigidaire, we sell approximately 60 million household products in around 120 markets every year. In 2022
Electrolux Group
had sales of
SEK 135 billion
and employed 51,000 people around the world. For more information go to www.electroluxgroup.com.
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