Knaus Tabbert AG (KTA) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Thank you, and welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to our second full year analyst call after listing here March 13. I think it's a very good day for Knaus Tabbert as we see today, as of today, the highest interest in share performance since the listing. So the stock were quite well received by all the capital markets. But there is just statistics today. I will now hand over to Mr. Wolfgang Speck and then followed by Marc Hundsdorf to guide you through the [ half back ] of the result. Mr. Speck, please go ahead.

Yes. Thank you, Manuel. Yes. Welcome to our Knaus Tabbert investor call on the reporting on the 2021 financial year. Yes, how can one describe a year as special as 2021? I mean if I had to describe it in just 5 attributes, I would put it as follows. It was a very work-intensive, challenging at times, difficult to plan, but nevertheless, satisfying year. Why were it? I mean, in the first half of 2021, which was only partially affected by disruptions in the supply chains and impact on the pandemic in business operations, we reported EUR 442 million in turnover or 23% more than in the previous half year of 2020. And in terms of EBITDA, we even saw an increase of 33% over the previous year with EUR 45 million. In other words, we have shown where the run rate of the company is in a normal environment. This contrasts with the second half of the year, difficult to plan, full of surprises on the supply side, and thus, new challenges every day. For example, incoming orders rose to ever new highs, while at the same time the supply chains were unable to supply production with sufficient material. Why are we nevertheless satisfied with the course of the business? Yes, the clock stopped at EUR 863 million in turnover on December 31. And we have thus achieved 8.6% more turnover than in the previous year. We sold around 26,000 vehicles. And this means that the year '21 marks new records in the Knaus Tabbert history. Both the luxury segment and the premium segment have achieved remarkable growth. We achieved a considerable result, and given an intact supply chain and sufficient chassis availability, could have achieved significantly more in terms of sales and earnings. We have targeted sales growth of more than 20% with existing capacities. But the second half of '21 was a year of stop and go in production operations, and the production processes were correspondingly unproductive. And we only achieved an EBITDA margin of 7%, but we will not settle for that in 2022. With the announced significant growth step in '22, we will catch up. We have further developed the company in this difficult environment in 2021. Our 4 factories show an unprecedented level of maturity in terms of capacity and technology. We have recruited and qualified more than 500 employees. Our product range continues to generate immense demand. Our 5 iconic brands delight retailers and customers alike. And the order book is EUR 1.3 billion in volume. The first quarter in 2022 is almost over. We had already indicated last year and at the beginning of the year that we will continue to experience the effects of chassis undersupply and supply chain problems in Q1. This scenario for Q1 was also the basis of our annual planning for the full year of 2022. This is exactly what happened in the end. However, there was also no further deterioration in our planning assumptions. For the current fiscal year 2022, we expect a visible improvement in terms of sales and earnings quality as early as Q2. This is particularly the case against the background of increasing diversification in the area of chassis supply. From today's perspective, how do we see the years ahead of us? I can once again confirm that we are sticking to our growth targets for the next 5 years. This applies to volumes, savings and earnings. All the activities required to achieve these targets are already being implemented or planned. Against the background of this pleasing development, we have submitted a proposal to our Supervisory Board to pay a dividend of EUR 1.50 for the fiscal year 2021. Yes, let us turn to an unpleasant topic, the war in the Ukraine. What is the impact of this war on our business? The effects of the war in Ukraine are assessed comprehensively and promptly at Knaus Tabbert within the framework of risk management and compliance. Purchasing, the legal department and other affected areas are significantly involved. On the one hand, the focus is on the supply chain and the impact on our production. On the other hand, we ensure that rules, as you know, in accordance with the sanctions, on import and export are observed and complied with, both in procurement and sales. The legal department at Knaus Tabbert makes particular use of information from the German Federal Office of Economics and Export Control. This includes, in particular, the relevant EU regulations in the period since 23rd of February, 2022. General letters of advice has been sent to our suppliers and dealers also with regard to compliance with the personal sanction lists in the European Union. There are currently only around [ 14 ] Ukrainian employees at the plant in Hungary. These want to remain in Hungary, and therefore, no negative effects on production are expected here. On the sales side, there are no deliveries or orders from Russia or Belarus. And on the supplier side, there are no direct supplier relationships with Russia or Belarus. As a summary, from yes, subjective entrepreneurial point of view and assessment, we can classify the war in Ukraine and the effect of the sanctions on Knaus Tabbert as very low. I mean, for the people affected by war, it is a tragedy. Our leisure vehicles are designed to enable people to travel the world across geographically, political, ideological boundaries to make friends, to socialize and to enjoy the cultural diversity of our world. The caravaning culture is cosmopolitan and peaceful, and we want to make our contribution to this. For years, caravaning has already arrived in the middle of our society. This is also shown by the registration figures, which leads us to Page 3. You see in total almost 260,000 new recreational vehicles were registered in Europe last year. This is once again and in succession a new all-time high. In terms of share, Germany accounts for almost half of the new registrations in Europe. The Motorhome segment again performed particularly well, with a 13% increase in registrations, and a total of 181,000 motor homes were registered in Europe. But the classic caravan markets such as the Netherlands or France, were also able to build up a good momentum, while the U.K. reached the level of 2019 again and was able to shake off the corona and Brexit effects to some extent. Overall, the European caravan market grew by around 3% in 2021. A new study by the Allensbach Institute for Public Opinion Research commissioned by the CIVD has confirmed the great importance of caravaning. It is a potential study. Owners of motorhome or caravan as well as people interested in caravaning were surveyed, and the importance of caravaning is growing in the corona period and generating additional fan community of over 2 million German holiday makers, so from 11.6 million to 13.8 million people are interested in caravaning. Caravaning is bucking the downward trend in the travel market and is gaining market share over alternative forms of travel. The development of the planned purchase intention in the next 1 to 2 years is also pleasing, which according to this study, has increased by 1.2 million prospective buyers to now 2 million, and this comparative value comes from the year 2015. So with other words, the survey shows 2 million people are interested in buying a caravaning vehicle in the coming next 1 to 2 years. We continue to assume that caravaning industry will remain on the upswing in the coming years, and will set new records in terms of registrations. Let's talk about rent and travel. The trend of the shared economy is increasingly establishing itself in the caravaning market. Knaus Tabbert Internet platform rent and Travel has been available as a product for the German market since 2016. The aim was to establish not only an agency platform, but above all trends embedded in an holistic, comprehensive ecosystem. And rent and travel has 3 target groups, the rental customer, the prospective buyer and the commercial rental station. Rent and travel gets new customers excited about the holiday form, turns them into renters and binds them to our 5 [ true ] brands. And in addition, rent and travel also focuses on prospective buyers and provides them with comprehensive advice on the right vehicle through our in-house customer service. And rent and travel also opens up in other sales channels. A good half of the rent and travel rental stations are commercial rental companies. And as you know, we deliver just to rent and travel on a yearly base, 2,000 to 2,500 new motorhomes and caravans on a yearly basis. According to a survey, the largest group of customers interested in the caravaning holiday within the next 5 years are those under 34 years of age. Rent and travel offers them an entry into the world of caravaning. The interest often leads to a purchase decision. Younger customers under the age of 39 already accounted for 31% of vehicle owners in Germany at the end of 2019. And more than 40% of all bookings at rent and travel are already made by the age group between 18 and 34 years. And the Allensbach study shows the enormous importance of renting. Around 35% of motor home buyers and 23% of caravan buyers rented before deciding to buy. Our growth rates in the rental business are impressive. There are currently over 2,200 vehicles available for customers at rent and travel partners in Germany. The number of rental stations has also risen sharply from 60 at the time of the rollout in 2017 to 180 in 2021. Almost 3,000 travel agencies now have rent and travel in their program. The next slide brings us to the topic chassis supply. Yes, the supply of base vehicles in the motorhome sector was the central topic in 2021. I mean you can imagine a missing side window can be retrofitted after the caravan was assembled, but without a chassis, however, there is no motorhome. And in the last 9 months, this has repeatedly led to assembly line stoppages and reduced output. The short notice schedules and program postponements at our chassis suppliers have also caused many disruptions in our factories. Every retrofitting process inevitably leads to an unplanned and noticeable additional work. We have done our homework in recent months to solve this problem, both for base vehicles in the motorhome sector and for chassis in the caravan sector too. We will be much more flexible and secure in our supply in future, thanks to new supplier. First of all, for example, we have won Mercedes as a new supplier in the motor home sector. We have already presented the first vehicles built on the Mercedes Sprinter chassis to the public, the Weinsberg Pepper is one of those motor homes. And by the way, it is really a high runner on the European registration statistics. And this Weinsberg Pepper is now available based on the Mercedes Sprinter chassis. Secondly, furthermore, we will expand our existing partnership with MAN in the future and purchase significantly more vehicles from MAN. And number 3, this autumn, we will also integrate another new partner for van CUVs into our portfolio. And with our new suppliers in the chassis area, we will increasingly pick up speed already from the second quarter of this year. Our dealers and customers can expect a significant improvement in the delivery situation in the first half of the year 2022. Yes. Last word. Our workforce has once again done a great job in 2021. The willingness to flexibly adapt working hours to our weekly changing supply situation and production planning is remarkable, and the physical and mental strain in times of pandemic is enormous. And so many thanks go to the more than 3,500 employees who have shown such unique commitment under these difficult working and also living conditions. Thank you. I now pass the floor to my colleague and CFO of the Knaus Tabbert Group, Marc Hundsdorf. Marc, please.

Yes. Also from my side, a warm welcome to you to today's presentation of the annual report 2021. The year 2021 against the backdrop of challenges in global supply chains and the impact of the corona pandemic was indeed a difficult and challenging year, personally for us, for our stakeholders, as well as economically. Since the publication of our last quarterly report on November 11, 2021, however, the situation has unfortunately not eased, but new challenges have been added, particularly against the backdrop of economic and political upheavals resulting from the Ukraine crisis. We at Knaus Tabbert are very grateful for an overall positive development in 2021. Moreover, our prospects for 2022 can also be described as promising, which is not a matter of course against the backdrops of the world's crisis. So let's start and look at 2021 from a financial perspective. The major challenge in 2021 was to deal with supply bottlenecks in the short term, and consequently, an extremely difficult ability to plan production processes, while at the same time, not losing the long-term perspective. As a result, we had to deal with short-term financing of high inventories on the one hand, while on the other hand, the high order backlog gave us the security to consistently pursue our growth strategy despite the current difficult conditions. This also included continuing our investments in the growth of Knaus Tabbert. For this reason, we concluded a syndicated loan agreement with a total volume of EUR 150 million with our long-term banking partners: Commerzbank, Raiffeisenlandesbank Oberoesterreich and Norddeutsche Landesbank, which replaced the previous financing. This also includes an increased option of up to EUR 30 million. By that, we have thus secured stable and flexible working capital financing for the coming year. Ladies and gentlemen, we will look back on 2021 as a year of contrasts, characterized by positive and negative signs. Here, an order backlog at a record level, a significant increase in the number of units, reduced in growth in sales, but on the other hand side an offset by a decline in earnings. We are not entirely satisfied but in view of the significant disruptions to the supply chains in 2021, we nevertheless expressly draw a very pleased conclusion for 2021. For this reason, the Executive Board and Supervisory Board of Knaus Tabbert will propose a dividend of EUR 1.50 to the Annual General Meeting in May. This proposal corresponds to a total payout of EUR 15.5 million and is thus 1 at par with the previous year. We are thus sending a clear signal of strength and confidence to our shareholders. At the same time, we are fulfilling our promise to let our shareholders participate in the corporate success of Knaus Tabbert. So let's continue to continue, with some explanations of the development of earnings. Since the middle of last year, at the latest, the topic of the supply chain has become the decisive factor for the 2021 financial ratios. For this reason, we cannot avoid referring to it again and again in the analysis of the previous year. Due to the unsatisfactory supply situation in general, and the limited availability of basic vehicles for motor homes and vans in particular, we were far from being able to exploit the full sales potential resulting from the high order backlog. Nevertheless, we were able to increase sales by 8.6% to EUR 863 million. This was not least thanks to the flexible production network of the Knaus Tabbert Group. As expected, problems in the supply chains were also reflected numerous expense items. Temporary underutilization in production leads to unproductivity, and prevents optimal use of resources. Various stop and gos in the production make it difficult to allocate resources efficiently. Added to this is the planned and necessary increase in personnel capacity to meet our order book in the future. All these effects are inevitably reflected in the development of operating profit. EBITDA adjusted for special charges, especially for corona, for the financial year decreased by 10.3% from EUR 67.7 million to EUR 60.7 million. The adjusted EBITDA margin was 7%. EBITDA for the Premium segment was EUR 43.9 million, down 17.6% on the previous year, which was EUR 50.3 -- 53.2 million, while EBITDA for the Luxury segment was EUR 15.4 million, up on the previous year figure of EUR 12.8 million. In particular, I would like to point out that the EBITDA margin in the Luxury segment increased from 11.9% to 12.7% despite the adverse circumstances. Overall, the earnings guidance updated on November 4, 2021 was achieved. Let's take a closer look at the development in the last quarter of the year. In the fourth quarter of 2021, Knaus Tabbert was able to increase its unit sales plus 98 vehicles. And revenue as well, EUR 6.7 million compared to the previous year. The reason for this was, among other things, good sales of caravans as well as the reduction of inventories, which could be reworked and thus invoiced, after missing components become available again. Here, the decline in earnings quality is not attributable to product margins, but to inefficiencies in production due to the constantly changing delivery schedules of suppliers, and thus, constant changes in the production program. This also has a direct impact on personnel expenses. As again said, we are maintaining a stable and qualified workforce for the benefit of future production capacities. Let us now take a closer look at the structure of Knaus Tabbert sales. The sales increase in 2021 compared to 2020 of 8.6% in total is distributed differently among our business segments. The Luxury segment was also affected by the supply problems, but to a lesser extent than the Premium segment in terms of chassis supplies. Motorized vehicles, this means motor homes and CUVs or vans, accounted for 69.2% of group sales of EUR 862 million. Sales of caravans, on the other hand, accounted for 26.9%. Previous year, it was just 26.2% of total sales. This means 1.7% higher than in the previous year. The increase in the share of caravans was deliberately managed by us here in order to enable the highest possible utilization of production capacity despite the lack of chassis for motorized vehicles, which as already mentioned, is possible thanks to the high degree of flexibility in Knaus Tabbert's production network. Sales revenues of the Premium segment in fiscal year 2021 were EUR 740.6 million, up 7.8% on the previous year. A total of 25,421 units sold are attributable to the Premium segment. In the Luxury segment, Knaus Tabbert recorded sales of 501 units. The previous year, we accounted 452 units. Sales increased significantly by EUR 14.7 million or 13.7% to EUR 122 million. This means that Morelo has once again strengthened its exceptional position in the market for motor homes in the absolute luxury class. So let's talk about how sales now transferred to cash flow. The group's operating cash flow, which is derived from the annual result, taking into account noncash expenses and income as well as a change in working capital has reduced, contrary to the trend of the recent years. While the focus on effective working capital management paid off in previous years, this was only possible to a limited extent in 2021 due to the lack of planning capability in purchasing and production. For example, numerous vehicles could only be reworked with a delay, due to the nonavailability of systems and components. For this reason, the decrease in cash flow from operating activities is mainly the result of increase in inventories at the balance sheet date of end of December. This increase is directly related to the increased level of work in progress and finished vehicles, and a slight increase in liabilities to suppliers. Net debt represents an important key figure for Knaus Tabbert for corporate management purposes. Here, the debt ratios have been at a very low level for years. Especially in times of high volatility, a low debt ratio guarantees a high degree of financial stability and flexibility. The group's Executive Board is aiming for an equity ratio of more than 30%. The gearing ratio is not to exceed 2.75. As of the reporting date for the half year financial statements June '21, the ratio was 0.6. As of the reporting date December 31, the net gearing ratio was 1.6, up 0.8 on the previous year. This is due to the reasons just mentioned, as well as significantly higher capital expenditures compared with the previous year, as a key prerequisite for our growth [ caught ]. I would also like to take this opportunity to report on our capital market activities in the past 12 months. As discussed in many individual meetings with you in the Capital Market, we see a major obstacle to an investment decision in the still low liquidity of the stock. For this reason, we have not only maintained an intensified direct contact with you in the recent months, but have also worked and will continue to work on a comprehensive communications program to address all capital market participants in the best possible way. In addition to a significant increase in the pool of banks, we will also significantly increase the news flow, both digitally and in print. The relaunch of the Knaus Tabbert website and the iconic Campers magazine, which appeared for the first time today, our only interim goals on this. The Executive Board of Knaus Tabbert is confident that our share price will recover soon into a fair or attractive value, in view of the positive outlook. The key reason for this is a strong demand for RVs from Knaus Tabbert. This continued in 2021 with increased momentum, and is expressed in a high order backlog. 32,398 units ordered. In the previous year, it was 18,000 units, correspond to an order volume of around EUR 1.3 billion compared to a prior year figure of EUR 640 million. As of the balance sheet date, Knaus Tabbert does [ have ] a record order backlog, which offers great planning security both in the Premium segment and the Luxury segment for 2021 and beyond, with a 61 percentage share of orders for motorized vehicles. The trend towards motor homes and vans is also reflected in our order backlog, which gives us a sales growth additional leverage. In 2021, we have created a key prerequisite for further sales growth by launching our investment offenses. So let's talk about investments. At EUR (47.9) million, cash flow from investing activities was EUR 27.8 million higher (sic) [ lower ] than in the previous year. Accordingly, investments in property, plant and equipment of EUR 41.2 million were significantly higher than the figure of EUR 40.2 million in the same period of the previous year. At EUR 6.9 million, investments in intangible assets, primarily development services, were also up on the previous year figure of EUR 6.1 million. In the Motorhome segment, development work on an electrical motor home, with Knaus E.Power drive, is particularly worthy of mention here. Investments in property, plant and equipment are based on our EUR 220 million investment package for production, with the aim of doubling the number of units within the next 3 years. For the investments in 2021, the new construction of an assembly hall in our Hungarian plant for the production of vans in an area of 7,000 square meters are particularly worth mentioning. In Jandelsbrunn, the headquarters of the Knaus Tabbert Group, we have started the construction of a new hall for the body production, with a total area of 22,000 square meters. This will be accompanied by the acquisition of state-of-the-art production technology. In Schlusselfeld, investments were also made in the expansion of the existing assembly line and machinery equipment. We will also continue the investment offensive in 2022 as planned for achieving our growth targets. Ladies and gentlemen, the Executive Board of Knaus Tabbert is extremely positive about the 2022 financial year. However, we have decided to wait for further consequences of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, which resulted in an attack by Russia against Ukraine at the end of April 2022, before we want to give a more concrete forecast. We are explicitly not affected by the Ukraine crisis through direct supply or sales relationships. From today's perspective, we also have no concrete indications that could have a significant negative impact on our earnings and profit expectations. Nevertheless, the Management Board has decided to issue only a qualified comparative forecast as at present. We are closely monitoring developments in Ukraine and the possible impact, and will specify our forecast in due course. Based on the order backlog of EUR 1.3 billion at the end of December 2021, and the increasingly positive effects of the changed purchasing strategy for chassis, we expect significant sales growth before price increase effect. Price increases vis a vis the dealers of the Knaus Tabbert Group are planned in the range of 6% to 8% in fiscal year 2022 and will additionally support growth. Profitability expressed in terms of adjusted EBITDA and adjusted EBITDA margin will continue to improve significantly, in line with the targeted sales growth and resulting economies of scale. Thank you very much for your attention, and looking forward to your questions now.

We will now begin our question-and-answer session. [Operator Instructions] The first question is from [ Lawrence Heller ] of Jefferies.

This is [ Lawrence Heller ] from Jefferies. I have a couple actually. Firstly, you talked about the direct impact from the war in the Ukraine. Maybe perhaps you can talk a bit about the indirect impact from the ongoing geopolitical tensions. Do you have any suppliers or sub suppliers [ geared ] to the region? Or do you see any supply chain constraints as a result of tension? My second question is on the phasing of the chassis supply. My understanding is that you will have ample supply of chassis from Q2 in 2022. Are there any numbers you can share with us in terms of aggregate chassis supply? And lastly, can you help us with the Q1 '22 results? How shall we think about revenue and margin progression in the first quarter?

I would start with the first part of the question, talking about [ Ukraine ] and then I would say Marc will step in [ about ] the supply chain in Q1, Q2. As already mentioned during my speech, I can specifically say we have, whether directly nor indirectly a major impact on our supply chain caused by the Ukraine conflict. First of all, we have no suppliers located in Ukraine, Russia or Belarus. Nor have we customers or dealers located there. We have -- also when we look to the Tier 2, Tier 3, Tier 4 level, also from this side we see no major impact. This is the situation, as already explained. And we are happy to be more or less unaffected from this crisis so far. On chassis, I can add some words more. I mentioned already that Mercedes has stepped into our business, MAN will increase their volume. And also I mentioned that from the second half year, we will add a new supplier. And I can mention that this will be Ford, and already part of the caravan world in Europe, not in very high numbers. So when you look to Germany, I mean, they contributed as far as I know in last year, then 2020,roughly 3,700 units, y-o-y Fiat was about 40,000. So it is just a little bit to give you a flavor on the market share of the chassis suppliers. I watched, by the way, this morning Ford in Cologne, and they have a clear commitment to enter to the caravan market to increase their volume dramatically. And they are very happy with Knaus Tabbert to have a strong partner on their site and to deliver them a platform to increase their market share in the coming years. Yes. This is what I can say so far to the supply situation. And again, we will see a significant increase of chassis availability beginning from Q2 onwards. That will also lead, by the way, to overtime in our production facilities in Hungary and Jandelsbrunn.

Yes. Maybe talking from my side for your question with regard to the first quarter of this year. I think when we had our calls in the last year, especially in November, we also already announced that the first quarter will be, let's say, the difficult quarter, yes, because diverse supply chains are still in place, and we were expecting that especially the first quarter won't be an easy quarter. So this normally has not changed, but we have to say also doing our forecast that we don't see any additional threats for the first quarter. So it was according to our expectations. And I think this is basically good news, yes, also for the rest of the year. And for that reason, it will be definitely lower than the previous year. So if you have a look on the first quarter of 2020, we had an EBITDA of more than 9%. So this is something we won't achieve this year. But I think it is a start for the first quarter as expected for us. We also definitely recognize that things are getting better now.

Let me add some, one sentence on the chassis supplier, just to make it a little bit more specific. As you know, Knaus Tabbert, in the past, we have a fear to cut a share in our motorized vehicles segment of more than 90%, 95%. I mean, the reason was -- I mean I explained it already, that we had a strategy to focus all our purchase power on one supplier, and this was until 2019 a right decision. Now we changed it. We have more volumes. We can diversify. More suppliers are entering to the caravaning market. And from that perspective, I can say that from 95% share to [ cuttering ] our portfolio. We will reduce that this year roughly down to 60%. And at the same time, we will increase the overall volume of motorized vehicles [ now with ] our sales in 2022.

The next question is from Charles-Louis Scotti of Kepler Cheuvreux.

Yes. A couple of questions from my side. The first one on chassis. To my understanding, the chassis makers are freighting, shipping chassis to [ MV ] makers. What degree of visibility do you have on your upcoming deliveries from Mercedes and Fiat? And how confident are you on volume growth in fiscal year 2022? Second question on the production capacity. What's going to be the production capacity levels, let's say on average, in fiscal year 2022? Also, third question's on pricing. You said you put a 6% to 8% price hike on 2022 vehicles. Do you think it's enough to offset rising input costs? And shall we expect a neutral or positive inflation balance? And finally, on the new brand, can you give us more details on the latter?

So again, I would start to touch the topic on chassis. How confident are we with the chassis suppliers, I mean we are talking to 4/ [ hopefully ] 5/ chassis suppliers. We have clear commitments from those chassis suppliers to deliver the quantities we need in the year 2022. We have still some reserves on our back end, so we are quite confident that the chassis supply, the chassis volume offered by our wider range of chassis suppliers is sufficient to meet our ambitious growth plans for 2022. And as we said, it will be a significant growth. That is what we targeted for 2022. When we look to the production capacity, I mean, we ended up last year with roughly 26,000 per unit. I mean you are aware that of working contained makes a difference in product mix if you produce more or less caravans or motor homes in that tenant. And as Marc, my colleague, Marc mentioned already, we have started a tough investment program this year. And this will also lead to an increase of capacity also in the coming years. But now the question, how can benefit the year 2022 already from this investment program. And I can say that we will be able, I mean to, I would say, more than 30,000 units for sure. That is the capacity we have. I mean, when we talk about capacity, mind this is a different thing compared to what we will deliver. But in terms of capacity, I mean we talk about 33,000, 34,000. Marc, would you like to step in answering the question on cost? [ The question is lou gerian ] [Foreign Language].

The question with regard to pricing, 6% to 8% and how is this an offset of the upcoming costs, I think the 6.8% are definitely a significant pricing, and according to our plans, will offset the rising cost. I think this is a clear statement from our side. If -- for sure, we are doing risk management and things like that. So if you would be confronted with even more and higher price increases, so I think we also, for sure, have to discuss about further price increases. But in the moment, I think we are well positioned with 6% to 8%.

The last point was about the new brand. You mentioned the new brand also during the IPO, that we will add brand #6 to our portfolio. This is still the plan. I mean we postponed that. We talked already about that because of the missing chassis in the year 2021. I mean without chassis to introduce a new brand to the market, that's totally senseless. And for this year, 2022, I can clearly say there is a full order book of EUR 1.3 billion. And this has priority #1. First of all, we will fulfill it and our requirements in terms of legal obligation to our dealers and customers. But you can expect the new brand for sure in the year 2023. And by the way, more to come. So we have a lot of new things to present in the coming 12 to 18 months. And this also will lead to our very optimistic view on our growth story in the future.

The next question is from Eric Wilmer of ABN AMRO-ODDO.

Also have a few. First one is actually when looking at the number of units sold for both caravans and motorhomes, you've shown a rather steep increase in Q4 versus Q3 for motorhomes also versus Q2. So I guess 2 questions here. What happened specifically within the Caravans business? Because it seems it's up 10% year-on-year and around, what is it, 35% or so, even more sequentially versus Q3. So what happened there specifically? And also the same kind of question for motorhomes. Did you manage to get material more chassis, or -- you talked about lowering the backlog, but I was just wondering if you could give a little bit more flavor there and how we should look at Q1 also versus this Q4. And then the other question, perhaps a bit surprised that you refrained from giving a quantitative guidance, especially on the top line. Yes, I was basically driven -- I was basically wondering to what extent is it driven by the fact that this may be related to wood or aluminum shortages, and that, that may impact the availability of product.

Yes, let's start answering the first part of your question. I mean, we are in, I would say, in a very comfortable situation. And I also mentioned that during our last call that we have a strong market position in vans and motor homes and in caravans. And also the order book shows in all segments, also strong volumes. First of all, technically, we have the possibility to shift product brand segments from factory to factory. And this enables us to get adapted relatively in short term to new market situations. And I mean, the second half year of 2021, it was full of surprises. So I mean, we had to get adapted to information delivered by Fiat. They [ drug ], they stop assembly line, they close for 1 week, 2, 3, 4 weeks. They are back, then they stop again. I mean you can imagine what that caused in the complex production system like Knaus Tabbert's. But nevertheless, we have been able to get adapted very fast. And that [ needify ] the base [ which is ] to the situation. So if you will have a look to the registration chart 2021 in the caravans, I mean, from 12 countries, we gained significantly market shares in 10 out of 12 countries. So we increased, for example, in France, our market share up to 29.8%. That is a plus from 1.2%. We increased our market share in Caravans in Sweden by 2.3% to 16.3%. And then and so on in Spain, plus 3.2 percentage points in market shares. We are at 23.3%. When we look to Italy, we have a market content meanwhile of 40.7% in Italy in Caravan. So in most of all countries, Knaus Tabbert had been able to use the weak situation in the market '21 to really to push and to speed up and to bring our products to those countries and bring them at the end to the end customer and registrations, because we talk about registration numbers and not delivering units to the dealer [ stock place ]. These are end customer registered vehicles. So a wonderful situation, and also proof for the ability to get adapted very fast to the market. And at the same time, I mean, when you look at the registration in the motorhome, yes, we lost market shares. But without chassis, I mean, you cannot win a race. And we lost last year compared to our expectations, roughly 3,000 -- 3,000 to 4,000 chassis in the year 2021. And of course, missing 3,000 to 4,000 chassis, that means at least you lose 2 percentage points in market shares all over Europe. But again, strong order book, flexible situation in our factories. So for sure, we will speed up and we will catch up also in market shares in the segment of motor homes. And Eric, this is a little bit of situation, so everything is in the flow. So we are following markets. We are following possibilities, opportunities and that is how we did our business in 2021. And at the end, that leads to the situation that we increased our sales by 8.6%, yes.

Very clear. And regarding the second question?

Marc? I think we lost my colleague.

I'm sorry. I think your question was on the Q4 numbers, yes? And the development of caravans and motorized vehicles.

The [ later ] was already answered. It was about Q1, Q2 as far as I remember. Maybe Eric, you can repeat if that's fine for you.

Yes, it was indeed -- actually, yes, especially 2 things. It was on Q1 versus Q4. I think as Q4 has basically had some surprise on your upside, but -- at least to me, but -- and the other question was on your guidance, why quantitative -- sorry, why not quantitative regarding sales? And how is it driven, to the availability of parts or something? I mean, just why not on sales? EBITDA, I can imagine, but sales was a bit more surprising.

You know also what Wolfgang just said. Supply chains are still an issue for us, yes. And that means we are not -- we can't be 100% sure that any specific plan will be 100% fulfilled, yes. So that means we have a kind of base scenario, so to say, yes. And hopefully, it will be getting better. And between base and getting better, it's quite a space between them, yes. And -- but even base is good, yes. But for that reason, we made the decision not to give any precise guidance, not yet. Yes. So this doesn't mean that we will do it in short term. And the final decision was made based on the Ukraine crisis because we had another question right now on the table, for sure. We can't -- we don't know exactly what does this mean, yes, to our supply chains also with regard to indirect supplies. And this was the main reason why we didn't give any precise guidance also with regard to quantities.

I mean, of course, if we come to the market anyway, base case, management case, best case, all 3 cases are great cases. But I mean to come to the market and just say, we will grow by 30% and then to deliver just 20%, everybody will be disappointed. Even having in mind that 20% would be a great outcome for 2022. And to be very, very clear and to have then a very specific guidance for the year, that is why we said, okay, let's wait a couple of weeks. Let's come to the Q2, where we will catch up dramatically. And then we will come to the market with that guidance. But nevertheless, it will be a great one.

The next question is from Rizk Maidi of Jefferies.

I just wanted to have a couple. I'll take them 1 at a time, if you don't mind. So the first one is basically just a big picture question, given your experience in the industry. We're seeing at the moment higher inflation, higher interest rates, lower consumer spending. I'm just wondering how do you think this will affect RV demand sort of going forward and the elasticity of demand, based on these variables that we now see a sort of changing. Excuse the broader question, but just I'm curious to hear your thoughts here.

First of all, I mean, we have a clear indicator and these are order incomes. And I can explain to you or give you the message that we have no impact on the flow of incoming orders from end customers via [ delas to tao ], now stoppage, first of all. Secondly, Yes, the inflation already led to price increases last year. And as we announced also this year, we see 6% to 8% price increase in the price list. And in other words, people who make their decision late in the year '22, they have to pay more for the same product compared to somebody who made a decision in Q1 or maybe in 2021. And the question is, will that lead to an increase of interest in caravaning? I don't see that. I mean, this is some -- I mean, people dream to think about fulfilling their dream, let's say, in that [ word ]. And again, I do not see any impact coming from the inflation or from the increase in interest rates. As you know, we have just, I would say, 10% maximum of the purchase activities are financed by bank. More than 90% or roughly 90% are paid in cash. And also, therefore, the increase of interest and -- will not lead, from my point of view, to a decrease in interest in buying products in the caravan industry. Yes, that's my point of view on that, yes.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts there. Then the second one is essentially on how do you see I mean, dealers' inventories at the moment? I think in the second half of last year, we've seen the registrations coming down. I mean, obviously, a good chunk of that is due to the supply chain constraints. I'm just wondering whether you can shed some light on where do you see sort of dealers' inventories at the moment?

The dealer inventories, the stock level is still on a historic low compared to what we saw until end of 2019. We have -- we can monitor that a little bit on the financing lines delivered by Santander [ Beanstalk ] were [ a capacity ] partner since we are part of the agreement. And we see the overall dealer volume, you see the volumes on each dealer. Normally, in normal times, they have a usage of 70% to 80% of the credit lines. Nw we see they are down on a level of 20% to 30%. And this is still the case. So this is the key indicator that they still really are hungry to get products delivered. And also just in public to mention, just to refill the logistic pipeline so to bring back the stock level where it was in 2019. I mean, the whole caravaning [ we see it ] has to work 12 months just to refill [ larger ] pipeline. Also, this has to be into consideration when we talk about forecast for the coming year.

Okay. And maybe the last one, and sorry if you touched on this earlier in this call. I think there was a slide on European registrations going forward in the forecast. Can you talk about what are you assuming for Germany? Or what's the assumptions for growth in units in Germany for this year, please?

Yes. I mean when we talk about the forecast, it still depends on the forecast delivered by the CIVD in November '21. So far, there is no update on the forecast available. When we look at, first of all, start to the end year of the timing end of the forecast that is marked by the year 2025. And when we talk about 372,000 units in '25 in Europe, when the German market is seen to deliver roughly 200,000 units to that market. For 2022, it is part of the forecast of the CRD from November that European registrations are forecasted by with 700 -- 200 -- I'm sorry -- 273,000 units and the German market is expected to constitute by 135,000, 135,000 units. And yes. And on that level, I mean, German market is increasing. And I would say also in the future, Germany will contribute by roughly 60% to the RV market. But I mean, we have been glad to see that also in 2021, there has been a lot of other markets who recovered, most of the European markets recovered and also [ the Swedish, other ] ones feeling that there is also a lot of potential outside of Germany.

If there are no further questions, I hand back to the speakers for the conclusion.

Yes. Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, for joining this call. It's a very extensive call today. I want to draw your attention to the next date relevant for you. This is April 12, when we publish a nonfinancial report for the first time, followed by 11, May 11 for the Q1. Thank you for joining. Bye-bye.