Despite the massive economic impact of the war in Ukraine and the coronavirus pandemic, DEKRA expects growth of around five percent in the current fiscal year. The number of employees is expected to increase further by over 1,000 (2021: 47,770, 2020: 43,990). In the second year of the pandemic, the expert organization proved its resilience: Revenue grew by 10.9 percent to more than 3.5 billion euros in 2021. At 226.0 million euros, earnings before interest and taxes (adjusted EBIT) were approximately equal to the pre-coronavirus figure in 2019. Net profit increased by around 50 percent, or 47.6 million euros, to 141.5 million euros in 2021 (previous year: 93.9 million euros) – and was thus more than 20 million euros higher than in the strong year 2019. Stan Zurkiewicz, the new Chairman of the Management Board, attributes these positive developments in a volatile environment mainly to the Company's strong market position, customer centricity, dedication of employees and accelerating digitalization. "We are closely in touch with our customers' needs and are concentrating on five high-growth focus areas where we are developing the digital services of the future," said the 42-year-old, who took on the baton from long-serving CEO Stefan Kölbl in April. In the context of digitalization, DEKRA is benefiting from completely new safety requirements that must be met, for example in relation to issues of cyber security and connected mobility. With capital expenditure of more than 140 million euros in 2021, DEKRA has laid the foundations for further growth around digitalization and driven forward internationalization – for example in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region. The new DEKRA CEO made it clear to journalists in Stuttgart that safety requirements are evolving rapidly due to increasing product and system connectivity and climate change. While DEKRA will keep all aspects of safety for people in focus, at the same time digital security of personal data and networked systems is also high on the agenda. "We have refined our strategic positioning and added digital security and sustainability to our Strategy 2025 strategy," said Stan Zurkiewicz. "Both are now part of our DNA." This is also reflected in DEKRA's strategic goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2025. Read full version: www.dekra.com/en/newsroom - Cross reference: Picture is available at AP Images (http://www.apimages.com) – Contact: Dr. Torsten Knödler +49.711.7861-2075 +49.711.7861-742075 torsten.knoedler@dekra.com SOURCE: DEKRA SE