The strategic priorities of recent years produced results in 2019. Sales of digital services increased, the share of managed service contracts has risen and the industrial mix has continued to improve. Operating profit rose by 19 per cent year-on-year, earnings per share by 15 per cent and our financial position is among the strongest in the industry.

The operating margin for the full year was 7.6 per cent, which means we are approaching our financial objective of 8 per cent. A stable financial position and favourable profitability provide the right conditions for growth.

Uncertainty in the markets has increased significantly since the spread of COVID-19 and at the time of writing it is difficult to make an informed assessment of its impact. We have been implementing preparatory activities for some time in all of our markets in the Group and can take urgent action where necessary.

The development of new technology plays an important role on the journey towards a more sustainable society. Through digitisation, electrification, autonomous vehicles, fossil-free energy recovery and medtech, it is increasingly clear that sustainability is an integral part of our offerings and deliveries.

Integrated approach

Sustainability is an integrated part of our mission, our customer offering and our internal corporate culture. Our sustainability efforts are directed towards the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals and based on our policy for sustainability and quality and on our Code of Conduct, which is based on the UN’s 10 Global Compact Principles.

We have chosen to focus our sustainability agenda on five main perspectives. These perspectives are to pervade our organisation, our offerings, our working methods and our objectives. The five perspectives which we define as essential for sustainable development are:

Semcon is driven by a genuine curiosity about people and their behaviour. Everything we do is about the people who use our customers’ products and services – the end users. We are just over 2,200 employees in eight countries who put people first and who together make a difference for our customers. At the end of the year, we had grown by approximately 150 colleagues at Semcon.

In our employee survey, which is held twice a year, the responses from Semcon employees indicate a sense of community in a good work environment. 77 per cent of employees give Semcon a high score as a recommended workplace, which gives us an Employee Net Promoter Score at the continued high level of +25.

We are convinced that diversity in combination with an inclusive culture is a key to success. Every new perspective broadens our understanding of end users.