The 2019 financial year was another very successful year for smartlab Innovationsgesellschaft mbH. High double-digit growth was recorded in all areas.
Revenue in the ladenetz.de segment increased by more than EUR 72% from EUR 3.2 million in 2018 to over EUR 5 million in 2019. It should be noted in particular that this does not include revenue for charging infrastructure. The number of new charging points, which more than doubled, corresponds to an investment of around EUR 10 million. These are traditionally generated by the ladenetz.de municipal utilities and business partners themselves. Sales with car manufacturers rose to over half a million euros for the first time. EBIT was around EUR 3,000. The significantly more positive annual result for 2018 was primarily influenced by one-off effects from the retrospective charging of expenses for the years 2015 to 2017.
"We are one of the few companies in the electromobility sector that is already in the black, which is particularly noteworthy in light of the high level of investment in 2019, which was again in the millions and has strengthened our workforce considerably," says Managing Director Walcher.
smartlab's overarching goal is to continue to grow through partnerships and establish a leading role in the market. smartlab was able to achieve this goal in 2019 thanks to the growth of the municipal utilities at ladenetz.de, the business partners and the e-clearing.net platform. With over 200 municipal utility partners and more than 6,000 charging points, smartlab was able to expand its strong position in the area of publicly accessible charging infrastructure. According to the BDEW, the total number of public charging points in Germany was around 21,000 at the end of 2019.
Through existing and new cooperations, smartlab enables the municipal utility customers of ladenetz.de to use the charging infrastructure throughout Germany with just one charging card and to charge electricity at around 42,000 public charging points in Europe.
Outlook for the 2020 financial year
In view of the successful conclusion of the 2019 financial year, smartlab is also anticipating a positive annual result and strong further development of the company in the current 2020 financial year. Double-digit sales growth and an annual result in the six-figure range are planned. After just six months, it is already clear that the first ladenetz.de business partner will make a decisive contribution to growth in 2020. This shows that the expansion of the ladenetz.de platform to include business customers has been a seamless success.