Materna Information & Communications SE, an IT consultancy with an international presence, has concluded the challenging financial year 2020 – marked by the coronavirus pandemic – very successfully, achieving record turnover. Preliminary group turnover for 2020 stands at 355.1 million euros. This represents a 9.6 per cent increase in turnover compared with the previous year (€323.8 million in 2019) and is the highest turnover in the family-owned company’s 40-year history – whilst also achieving its highest ever profitability. Purely organic growth stands at 13.5 per cent, as Materna divested itself of certain holdings and subsidiaries last year as part of a portfolio realignment.
As was the case for the economy as a whole, 2020 was dominated by the coronavirus pandemic for Materna too. “We have helped numerous companies and public authorities to successfully drive forward their digitalisation projects,” explains Martin Wibbe, CEO and Chairman of the Board of the Materna Group. Materna specialises in consultancy and implementation services for digital transformation, combining both business process and technology consultancy. High-growth areas within its portfolio include cloud, application modernisation, cyber security – including the establishment of a Security Operations Centre (SOC) – service management and end-to-end process consultancy for SAP.
The analysts at ISG also confirm that Materna’s portfolio is pioneering: “Materna is certainly a partner for German companies that can make a significant contribution to the successful implementation of digitalisation projects.” (ISG Provider Lens Report on Enterprise Service Management).
Last year, Materna also succeeded in recruiting over 250 new employees. More than 400 new roles are planned for this year. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, more than 90 per cent of staff are now working from home and would like to continue doing so even after the pandemic, as the latest staff survey has shown.
In the Digital Transformation division, Materna met the increased demand last year for application modernisation and containerisation, DevOps and managed services. Materna stands out with a comprehensive range of consultancy and solutions for IT service management, the agile roll-out of new services and applications, and application architectures. Furthermore, the trend of IT budgets being channelled into companies’ business departments continues. Materna supports business units in implementing digital, data-driven business models. Here, Materna impresses customers with its expertise in IoT-based services, data analytics and artificial intelligence (AI), and has strengthened its position with customers in the manufacturing and automotive sectors.
Business with clients in the public sector developed very positively last year. Numerous new client projects and framework agreements were secured at federal and state level, contributing to the company’s growth trajectory. A key driver for the public sector is the Online Access Act (OZG), which, with its deadline set for the end of 2022, is decisively driving forward the digitalisation of public administration. “With our portfolio, we aim to take on the role of a thought leader in the digitalisation of the public sector and will help set the course for a digitalised and streamlined public administration in Germany,” says Martin Wibbe. Materna also intends to play a key role in shaping the planned Ministry of Digital Affairs and the reorientation of federal IT service providers. Other key areas of focus for Materna in the public sector include cloud computing, cyber security, e-health, GAIA-X and artificial intelligence.
Materna carries out its SAP consultancy business through its wholly-owned subsidiary cbs (Corporate Business Solutions Unternehmensberatung GmbH). The management consultancy implements digital business processes and global SAP solutions, primarily serving clients in the manufacturing and automotive industries, and achieved growth of around 13 per cent in 2020 compared with the previous year. cbs employs around 700 staff and, in addition to its headquarters in Heidelberg, has a presence at 20 locations worldwide.
For Materna IPS GmbH, the subsidiary specialising in the aviation sector, 2020 was not an easy year. Nevertheless, turnover increased and key client projects were successfully delivered, such as those for Tokyo Haneda Airport in Japan and the new Berlin-Brandenburg Airport. Materna IPS supplies software and hardware for automated passenger and baggage handling to more than 100 airports worldwide. Every day, passengers complete more than 300,000 check-ins using Materna IPS’s self-service kiosks.
About Materna
The Materna Group currently employs more than 2,400 staff worldwide and achieved a turnover of 355.1 million euros in 2020. Materna covers the entire range of services offered by a full-service provider in the premium segment: from consultancy and implementation to operation. Materna advises and supports companies and public authorities on all aspects of digitalisation and delivers bespoke technologies for agile, flexible and secure IT. Its clients include IT organisations as well as specialist departments within companies and the public sector. The group also comprises various subsidiaries.
