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M&A Announcement

Dec 17, 2020

Operator

Thank you, Daniel, on your telephone for operator assistance. May I now hand you over to Jochen Weyrauch, who will lead you through this conference? Please go ahead.

Jochen Weyrauch
Deputy CEO, Dürr AG

Yeah, good morning, and thanks for introducing. My name is Jochen Weyrauch. I'm the Deputy CEO of Dürr AG, responsible for the automotive business as well as our M&A activities. I'm glad to give you insights of the acquisition of Teamtechnik, which we have published yesterday, and I'm grateful that you have dialed in at such short notice. Our management team is not complete today in this call. Ralf Dieter is active on the preparation of our Supervisory Board meeting.

Operator

Dietmar Heinrich and myself are happy to answer your questions after my short talk. [cross talking]

Jochen Weyrauch
Deputy CEO, Dürr AG

[cross talking] May I hand you over to Jochen Weyrauch, who will. If we look at the presentation, page four, I think we loaded it up yesterday. I hope everybody has it available. We're glad to have completed the signing of Teamtechnik last night. We've acquired 75% of the company, 25% remain with the founding family, which means the son of the founder, who will also remain in charge as CEO of the business, and actually, the plan is that we will build a larger business together going forward. With this acquisition, on the one hand, we will broaden our e-mobility activities in the direction of test systems for electric drives, so meaning now we're talking about components of the vehicle as well as entering a new field, which is automated production systems for medical services.

I must say we're really proud to act in both directions, which are equally important for us looking forward, and this acquisition obviously supports our midterm strategy in terms of growth, and especially also in terms of growth all outside the automotive industry. Who is Teamtechnik in a nutshell? It is really a global, even if it's a neighbor of us, just maybe five miles away from here. It's a leading global automation specialist founded 44 years ago in Freiberg and being run actually 22 years by the founder and another, which is the father of the actual CEO, and another 22 years now by the son. Sales of the business in 2019 were around EUR 155 million, and the company employs more than 700 employees, the majority in Germany, but with significant activities in the U.S. and China as well.

As I mentioned before, the focus is on automation of production systems, so really automation that falls in our sweet spot in both areas, the e-mobility and med tech. There is still a small solar business. They're active in the automated assembly of solar panels by applying stringers, which was a big business 10 years ago, but the company has more and more transformed into e-mobility and med tech. If we look at page five, you see the distribution of the sales in 2019, where e-mobility still is the major part of the business, slightly below two-thirds, but very much or very quickly growing med tech business, which meanwhile does 20% of the business, and another 20% is distributed between service and the business I just mentioned in the solar business. On the e-mobility side, the company is mainly active on the function testing of electric and hybrid drives.

And I can say they're very successful with the biggest German automotive customer and the one company we have pretty much in the news based out of California. On the other hand, they're also active on the assembly and functioning testing of battery modules and packs. So that's more or less the e-mobility side. And on the med tech side, they do the production of test and assembly systems for injection components, inhalers, and plastic assemblies in general. And in addition, very impressive also in the production machines for the production of contact lenses. You see on the next page a couple of pictures that illustrate what the company is doing. You see on the top left the assembly of medical components. And I can tell you it looks like the machines look like a clockwork, if I can say that.

We have production volumes of more than 200 pieces, not in an hour, but in a minute, so it really is very highly automated, very smart, very process-oriented production equipment. You see more of that on the top right side where we talk about the assembly of injection pen, for example, for diabetes patients, and on the lower right side, LED curing of glass syringes, and the company with similar technology also does the production of contact lenses, and on the top left, see the test systems for electric drives. It's also very interesting to see because when the testing of an electric drive is much more complex than what you assume when you hear the title, it is really bringing in the complete electric drivetrain of a vehicle, including the gears and mount all the contacts, including filling the oil.

And then the drive is run up in order to check consumption, hysteresis. We check the sound. And very important, as those drives are configured very individually, in many cases, there's even software applied in that production step. If we look at page seven, you see the market potential. We're talking high single-digit numbers of, if you will, natural growth in the medical industry. We believe the market today to be around EUR 2 billion, but growing up to EUR 3 million in the next four to five years. Why is that? It's mainly driven by the increased demand of production systems as in the medical market. The demand for products is growing anyways, and that drives automation for two reasons. First of all, because demand is increasing, but there's also cost pressure coming for the medical companies.

And in essence, there's the same automation trend running that we've seen in our automotive business for many years now. So this gives opportunity for complex turnkey solutions that we, meaning including Teamtechnik, are well able to do. The market is still kind of fragmented. There are a few bigger players, especially ATS Automation, but also Mikron and a few others. But this market offers, and that's very important for us, significant, if you will, buy-and-build possibilities. And for us, entering the med tech business is step one. And our assumption is that there will be more steps in that direction. If we look at page eight, how will the combined business look like, and what is the potential and rationale? In fact, we will be combining strengths in many directions.

First of all, Teamtechnik in general, as I tried to explain, is a leader in automation technology, so naturally fits very well our business model. Second, with their portfolio in e-mobility and our global footprint and access to customers, we are perfectly set up to help this company to broaden the business in automotive. And apart from that, we are the support hub, if you will, for further acquisitions in the area of med tech, which the company standing alone would not have had. If we look more on the bottom line, we believe that with our capabilities, especially in project management and order execution, we can help Teamtechnik to support their operating margins. And of course, in addition to that, with our setup in purchasing service and especially our capabilities in digitization, we believe that we can further add to making this business more successful.

What are consequently our midterm targets? We believe that we can achieve around EUR 200 million in 2024. As I mentioned, the company has done about EUR 155 million last year. We assume from obviously the impact of Corona this year that there will be a slight sales dip next year from where we will then grow up to EUR 200 million in 2024. Our target is to achieve an EBIT margin of 9%, which would be well in line with the already existing margins of the main competitors of Teamtechnik in the business. And of course, this margin would support Dürr's own midterm target of being above 8%. So far, so good. This is briefly what I wanted to present. And Dietmar and myself would be available for questions now.

Operator

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, then we will now begin the Question and Answer session. If you have a question for our speaker, please dial zero and one on your telephone keypad now. Once your name has been announced, you can ask the question. If you find your question is answered before the management speaks, you can dial zero and two to cancel your question. If you're using speaker equipment today, please lift the handset before making your selection. One moment, please, for the first question. We've received the first question. It is from Will Macaulay of Morgan Stanley. Please go ahead. Your line is now open.

Will Macaulay
Research Associate, Morgan Stanley

Hi. Good morning, gentlemen. Thank you very much for taking my question. So the first one is, could we maybe get a bit more clarity on why 2021 sales are so much lower than 2019, especially given the exposure to both EV and medical? I maybe would have expected a bit more resilience.

Jochen Weyrauch
Deputy CEO, Dürr AG

Okay. Okay. We can answer that question first. I was waiting for your second part, but I can answer the first one anyways. So this was Will, right?

Dietmar Heinrich
CFO, Dürr AG

Yes. Yes.

Jochen Weyrauch
Deputy CEO, Dürr AG

Okay.

Will Macaulay
Research Associate, Morgan Stanley

This is Will.

Jochen Weyrauch
Deputy CEO, Dürr AG

Yeah. Yeah. First of all, we believe that the business is quite resilient. It is simply the fact that we've seen that on the automotive side as well. It's not so much that the projects have disappeared. It is just so much more difficult dealing with customers at the moment. And what we're now seeing is the order intake already picking up towards the end of the year, but we will consequently from a lower order intake in the second and partially third quarter that will naturally go into next year. What we don't see is the market volume reducing, not in EV automotive and especially also not in med tech. But those projects in preparation need so much coordination effort. And especially with projects also in the U.S., it's been quite difficult to solve all the conditions in order to book projects.

But as I mentioned, we're quite confident for next year in terms of bookings.

Will Macaulay
Research Associate, Morgan Stanley

Okay. That makes a lot of sense. Yeah. Second question. Could we get an idea of what profitability was in 2019? And maybe on 2021, you said in the release you expected to be loss-making accounting for extraordinary items, but maybe on an underlying basis, what can we expect?

Jochen Weyrauch
Deputy CEO, Dürr AG

Yeah. The operating margin of the business this year is in the higher single digits. So it's not too far away actually from what we're looking for in 2024. The business will be I mean, the reported numbers next year will be impacted especially also by purchase price allocation and a few effects. The operating margin of the business, I would say, should be at least a break-even or higher.

Will Macaulay
Research Associate, Morgan Stanley

Okay. Perfect, and so if I may, one final question. Just, I know you don't disclose the purchase price, but if I may, could we be given a rough ballpark? Is it two digits, three digits? Any information would be very helpful.

Jochen Weyrauch
Deputy CEO, Dürr AG

The simple way of answering is it's not triple digit.

Will Macaulay
Research Associate, Morgan Stanley

Okay. That's very helpful. Okay. Thank you very much, gentlemen.

Jochen Weyrauch
Deputy CEO, Dürr AG

Thank you, Will.

Operator

Thank you. The next question is from Ingo Schachel of Commerzbank. Your line is now open. Please go ahead.

Ingo Schachel
Managing Director, Commerzbank

Yeah. Thanks very much. I have two questions. The first one would be on the commitment of the incumbent management team and seller of the business. Is there a certain Put-Call option structure for the remaining 25% stake? And if you have a similar price, then has he committed to a minimum number of years that he's going to remain in managerial role with Dürr?

Jochen Weyrauch
Deputy CEO, Dürr AG

Yeah. Thanks for asking the question, Ingo. There is a commitment. Actually, I can say we would have acquired the company also 100%, if you will, if necessary. But the current shareholder wants to remain in place because he really believes in the business. And I hope that we will work together many, many, many years because there's a very trustful relationship. And yes, there is a mechanism in the agreements with a Put and a Call, which is not close. And there is a mechanism also that I would say gives upside and downside on the purchase price depending if ever we would trigger, that would be dependent on the success of our relationship.

Ingo Schachel
Managing Director, Commerzbank

Okay. And on the refinancing, of course, you have plenty of gross cash to pay for the deal, but I guess there could still be some debt in the entity as well. Would you be able to quickly refinance any debt that is currently in the target with the cheaper Dürr conditions, or do you have a longer-term capital structure in the target?

Dietmar Heinrich
CFO, Dürr AG

Yeah. Ingo, this is Dietmar. I would like to take over the answer for that question, and it's a clear yes. We have, as you mentioned, enough cash available. We also did successfully refinancing during the second half of the year, and we are able to replace then the debts that are there with more efficient solutions and to provide the company the necessary funding to support the growth.

Ingo Schachel
Managing Director, Commerzbank

Okay. Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. The next question is from Alexander Hauenstein of DZ Bank. Please go ahead. Your line is now open.

Alexander Hauenstein
Analyst, DZ Bank

Yes. Hello. Alex Hauenstein from DZ Bank. I have a follow-up question on the sales number. Is it fair to assume that 2020 sales was also down due to the Corona crisis, or has there been even an uptick compared to 2019, and the full effect of the crisis is only visible in 2021? That would be my first question, and another question is, you decided, if I got it right, to put it into the PFS division, so I was wondering why not allocating it to MPS? Maybe you could share your views here, and last question, you made some indications that potentially you might go for more into the direction of medical technology, so that does mean more M&A on that front. Is that right? Thanks.

Jochen Weyrauch
Deputy CEO, Dürr AG

Thanks, Alexander, for your question. Let me start with the second one. Honestly, to be quite frank, we were wondering where to put it because the business could have also fitted MPS being more on the machine-building side. So if you look at the technology, maybe not so far away from our balancing business, we have still decided to connect it to PFS, at least for the moment, for the reason of the business being still very close to automotive and physically, if you will, being much closer to Bietigheim, where we have PFS, rather than Darmstadt, where we have MPS. But again, good question, and we had to think about it, but we took the decision as it is. On the sales 2020, yes, they are down compared to 2019. I would say roughly maybe 10%.

So we already see an impact this year, and as I mentioned, a bit more next year. But from there, with the project pipeline and the projects that we see, we confirm what we said about 2024. In terms of M&A, yes, the idea is, and this is, I would say, the beauty of this acquisition. On the one hand, it strengthens our EV activities. On the other hand, it now gives us a reliable platform to grow into a new business. And as you know, our ambition is, of course, not to shrink our automotive business as such, but to build new areas for Dürr. And we are convinced that Med Tech is a very interesting market to enter and to build from there.

Alexander Hauenstein
Analyst, DZ Bank

Okay. Thank you.

Jochen Weyrauch
Deputy CEO, Dürr AG

Pleasure.

Operator

Thank you. The next question is from Will Turner of Goldman Sachs. Your line is now open. Please go ahead.

Will Turner
VP, Goldman Sachs

Morning, everyone. Just two quick questions for me. The first one is, could you just give us a little bit of information about the historical growth of the company and how it's performed over, say, the last five years? And then the second question is, could you just comment on the working capital structure of this business? And is it similar to the kind of how we think about the main company? Yeah, that would be really good. Thanks.

Jochen Weyrauch
Deputy CEO, Dürr AG

Historical growth the company has. If you look at the top line, the growth in the last years was maybe not so impressive. If you look into the individual businesses they do, it is because if you go back 10 years, they were dominated by the solar business because there was a boom 10 years ago, and they were shipping machines after machines to China to support the business there, and this market obviously has changed, and from there, this business was shrinking now to a volume that's not very relevant anymore, and from there, the company has built the EV business in the first step, and I would say in the last two, three, probably four years, beginning with Med Tech.

And here, the interesting part is to get projects in Med Tech typically takes you three, four, five years in order to qualify because this industry is very conservative, is very careful in terms of security and their suppliers, and fortunately, not so much price-driven. So it took the company quite a while to grow into that business, and they are now much growing. So if you look at the top line, probably a bit of growth, but not so much. But the company in the last 10 years was completely transforming. So then on working capital, Dietmar, you want to say a few words?

Dietmar Heinrich
CFO, Dürr AG

Yeah, I can do. Basically, the structure is similar to our business, but from a finance point of view, there is also potential for synergies with the cooperation. So it'll be improvement that I see ahead of us.

Will Turner
VP, Goldman Sachs

Okay. Thanks.

Operator

Thank you. The next question is from Daniel Kleim of Stifel. Please go ahead. Your line is now open.

Daniel Gleim
Analyst, Stifel

Yes. Good morning. Thank you very much for taking my questions, gentlemen. The first one would be on the current deal pipeline. Where do we stand on the timeline? You recently mentioned at the Capital Market Day that there would be several smaller acquisitions in the pipeline. So maybe you can give us an update on where we stand, what the likely business size is, maybe comparable to today's announcement, and what area of business you're looking into. So are you planning to already further strengthening Med Tech with the next acquisitions or to potentially even further diversify your overall business profile? I'll start there.

Jochen Weyrauch
Deputy CEO, Dürr AG

Okay. Thanks, Daniel. We were hoping that we satisfied a little bit your appetite for the moment with this acquisition, but I understand we all remain hungry. We want to get this acquisition done. Closing will be most likely early February, and then, of course, we have a few ideas. How quickly they will materialize is not easy to say. I mean, if we look at Temtechnik , you can imagine that's not something that came overnight. This was something we were discussing. We developed ideas and a joint strategy, and yes, we have a few ideas, but it would be very difficult to give you a confirmed timeline when we can announce the next one.

Daniel Gleim
Analyst, Stifel

But in terms of deal size, we're looking at the same ballpark. So we are not changing pace here and looking at the third pillar that you alluded to several quarters ago.

Jochen Weyrauch
Deputy CEO, Dürr AG

The third pillar will be one that will come or not come quickly or in the midterm because it's always a question of availability. And the good position we're in is we're ready if something comes up. We have the financial capabilities to go into this, what you call, third pillar. And meanwhile, we will look at consolidating further in terms of what we have. And yes, we're looking really, and this is why we mentioned it specifically, at Team Technik to be a buy-and-build platform. And here, I assume that the next targets, as this market, as I mentioned, is quite fragmented with one or two bigger players and a number of small and mid-sized players, that the next acquisition, at least in that direction, might not be bigger than the one we've just done.

Dietmar Heinrich
CFO, Dürr AG

Daniel, maybe just to add to what Jochen actually said and we stressed this during a couple of investor calls or investor conferences also during the last month. And Jochen mentioned it's a buy-and-build topic. So looking forward to establish a third pillar is not only an approach regarding doing a big deal, but adding then, for example, to Teamtechnik , then also further activities, just as Jochen highlighted. So it's also a step-by-step approach.

Daniel Gleim
Analyst, Stifel

Yeah. Maybe my second question is, and apologies for playing a little bit the devil's advocate here, but often when discussing Dürr and the M&A strategy, we speak to a lot of investors that observe an industry trend with breaking up a lot of the old industrial conglomerates, building pure-play companies that are more manageable and more competitive, but also more valuable for the investors and hence show a re-rating, with Siemens Energy maybe being the most recent example. When you meet investors to discuss your M&A strategy and pitching your further leg into Med Tech today, what would you respond to an investor that is concerned about Dürr moving the opposite direction, rather building a conglomerate, now adding Med Tech instead of following the industry trend of focusing the business? That is my second question.

Jochen Weyrauch
Deputy CEO, Dürr AG

Okay. Yeah. Unfortunately, we are not in the position of Siemens to carve out a business that we might see at the highest level of the capital market in Germany. But honestly, I like you being a devil's advocate because that helps us to think and to improve and to do things better. However, in this respect, so far with the portfolio, we believe that we have a clear bracket, meaning a value-add of the conglomerate versus individual businesses through our approach of really being the leader in automation and digitization. If you look, for example, at Teamtechnik, but also our other businesses, Schenck or Homag, the strength really is that we have this backbone. You see that in approaches like ADAMOS, where we are playing a major role in the conversion of the businesses towards digitization.

It doesn't mean that the digital business has to be considered as a standalone business, but it is the enabler to be successful also in the future with our current product portfolio. And if you look at Dürr as we stand today, I think we're still far away from becoming an unmanageable company. I think we're really hands-on, still very involved in the individual businesses. I'm not ruling out that in the future, depending on our opportunities to grow in some areas, that we might rethink other areas. But at the moment, we feel quite comfortable with how we're set up.

Daniel Gleim
Analyst, Stifel

Very clear. Thank you very much, both of you.

Jochen Weyrauch
Deputy CEO, Dürr AG

Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. The next question is from Sven Weier of UBS. Please go ahead. Your line is now open.

Sven Weier
Research Analyst, UBS

Yeah. Good morning, gentlemen. Thanks for taking my questions. The first one is regarding the barriers to entry in both markets. So it seems that Team Technik has been able to enter both the medical and the automotive testing systems market within a relatively short period of time. And as you said, it's both very fragmented markets. So what is it really that, in your view, does differentiate the company from the competitors and does prevent others taking the share from them? That's the first one. Thank you.

Jochen Weyrauch
Deputy CEO, Dürr AG

Thanks, Sean. Barriers to entry in Med Tech are probably even higher than they are in automotive, and I would say it's having the breadth and technology. When I was talking with the owners, they were telling me how long it takes to enter this business. I know it from own responsibilities in the past. You have to qualify over time. You have to go to the customers, present them technologies. You have to invest a lot. You have to fulfill regulations. In med tech, for example, all those FA regulations, and then customers, if you are not giving up, after some time, they start giving you probably a small order, and then you have to perform, so it's a long and hard way, and you better behave and perform, and then you can enter the market.

As I mentioned, the beauty of that is once you're in this business and you have references, then you can grow the business from there because there's not so many players in med tech that really perform, especially, and this is where also we believe we can bring in a lot of help, is a global setup. Most of the customers are becoming more and more global, and they want to have exactly the same processes around the world, and with our network now and our service capabilities, we can give this a boost. In automotive, yes. I think there the barriers might have been a little lower. The company is in this business for a longer time, but has built up very, very important references.

That's the reason why they're basically currently the sole supplier of the customer I was referring to in Germany, but also a very significant supplier of this customer in California and many more, I must say. Here, as I mentioned, we believe as Dürr, we can give it a boost because we have access to the customer base around the world.

Sven Weier
Research Analyst, UBS

And then on the technology side, I mean, because you mentioned how long it takes to get the references, but it seems that they've done it in a relatively short period of time because of the dominance of solar before. And now in the last 10 years, they have gone from zero to hero, so to speak. I mean, is there kind of a core tech that has a synergy between those two areas? Because at first sight, medical and autos seem not related to each other. But is there kind of a combined strength in there?

Jochen Weyrauch
Deputy CEO, Dürr AG

Oh, yeah, definitely. It is really the automotive competence to apply. If you look at the process of testing, but also in Med Tech, it is the selection and integration of the right automation steps in order to generate a very reliable system that is able to fulfill the demand. If you look at those machines and how they work, there is a lot of clamping. There is a lot of conveying. There is a lot of quality check by camera or other devices. And this is all very similar for both markets. And what is similar is you need a process and a software and an execution system above those components that works very reliably. And again, this is very similar. And referring to your question from zero to hero, I mean, it took them a number of years to enter the business. So it was not overnight.

Nice to hear from you that you call it hero. We believe it's not hero yet because there's a lot of potential to grow the business.

Sven Weier
Research Analyst, UBS

Understood. Thank you. The second question I have was a follow-up on what you said on 2020. I think you said this year there are still high single-digit margin or was that in 2019? And I was just wondering about the operating leverage, right? Because you said they go from high single-digit margin to roundabout break-even with the corresponding sales decline. But I think some of the sales decline is also at this part that you do of the business. So does the business really have a relatively high operating leverage?

Jochen Weyrauch
Deputy CEO, Dürr AG

I mean, the margins I was referring to actually was 2020. In terms of the operating leverage, I don't think there is too much, and it's more. Maybe I can support Jochen in that regard. It's more an asset-like business, and then, of course, there's an inventory involved, but it's not like you have a lot of fixed assets a lot and depreciation, things like this, so accordingly, then the operating leverage is not so high.

Sven Weier
Research Analyst, UBS

Yeah. Because I was just wondering, when you go down 10% this year already, you still have a high single-digit margin. Then you go down another 10% next year, and then it's break-even. Is that then a cautious guidance, so to speak, or?

Jochen Weyrauch
Deputy CEO, Dürr AG

That probably was more a statement than a question, right?

Sven Weier
Research Analyst, UBS

Kind of, yeah. I would assume because that's a relatively big step down, right?

Jochen Weyrauch
Deputy CEO, Dürr AG

Yeah, yeah. Let's hope it will be better. Let me put it that way.

Sven Weier
Research Analyst, UBS

Understood. And the final question?

Jochen Weyrauch
Deputy CEO, Dürr AG

We don't want to bring the business too much under pressure, if you will, year one.

Sven Weier
Research Analyst, UBS

Okay. That's fine. Thanks. And the last question, if I may, is just I was wondering about the M&A process. So was that an exclusive process or were there other buyers? Because we all know that Tesla likes to buy their key suppliers, as we've seen with Grohmann. So have you been competing with other potential buyers on this asset?

Jochen Weyrauch
Deputy CEO, Dürr AG

Yeah. I think I cannot disclose too much on this one here, but I can assure you it's been kind of competitive.

Sven Weier
Research Analyst, UBS

Thank you very much. That's it from my side.

Jochen Weyrauch
Deputy CEO, Dürr AG

Thank you, Flynn.

Operator

Thank you. The next question is from Richard Schramm of HSBC. Please go ahead with your line if you're open.

Richard Schramm
Equity Analyst, HSBC

Yes. Good morning, gentlemen. Just to follow up on this sales development. So I'm a bit surprised that application technology will see another material decline in sales next year, which is clearly against anything else we see in our universe here because our other companies will see recovery. So I'm not sure if I missed something here, but what causes this, let's say, delay in recovery of the business from the damage, obviously, suffered from COVID-19 in the current year here?

Jochen Weyrauch
Deputy CEO, Dürr AG

Yeah. Richard, thank you for the question. First of all, let's see how it really turns out. Second, there have been a few large orders that were performed in 2019 and 2020, which is always difficult to discuss what is a repeat order and what is an extraordinary order. But there's been some in that direction. Plus, as I tried to explain, the business consists actually of three businesses. There is an automotive business, which is there's bigger orders, and the timing is relevant when they come that can really make a difference of easily EUR 10 million or more up or down from year to year. Plus, there is the growing med tech business, but still from a low level. And third, there is this solar business, which was further reducing. And if you put it all together, then you have the number that we have.

As I mentioned, we see, and this is why we are extremely confident with the acquisition because we know the pipeline thereafter, and we know that next year and even at the end of this year, we're expecting still a few larger orders, but with the lead times in the business, that will create a further reduction next year, but a good growth platform for the years thereafter.

Richard Schramm
Equity Analyst, HSBC

So how big is the backlog you are buying here with the company? What brings it forward through 2021?

Jochen Weyrauch
Deputy CEO, Dürr AG

The backlog? We probably have to.

Yeah.

Yeah. I would say, yeah, Dietmar is right. It's probably around half a year or slightly higher, and we assume that we will still go into next year with an okay backlog.

Richard Schramm
Equity Analyst, HSBC

Okay, but you will then still need some further orders to fully cover the sales expected for next year, quite obviously.

Jochen Weyrauch
Deputy CEO, Dürr AG

Oh, yeah. Absolutely. Absolutely. And the pipeline is there. That's been one of really the areas we've been very much focusing on during the due diligence because you have to look at the case. And as we mentioned, 2021, let's call it a bit exceptional for the moment. That's why, especially, we've been looking at the pipeline, at the customers, etc., in order to have the confidence that exactly what we're explaining today will happen.

Richard Schramm
Equity Analyst, HSBC

Okay. Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. The next question is from Peter Rothenaicher of Warburg Research. Please go ahead with your line if you're open.

Peter Rothenaicher
Analyst, Warburg Research

Yes. Hello, gentlemen. I have a question on the regional structure of this company. So you mentioned they have some facilities in the U.S. and China. Is this focusing then purely on the automotive business, or are you active here also in the med tech area?

Jochen Weyrauch
Deputy CEO, Dürr AG

Thanks, Peter, for the question. If we start with China, China was set up a number of years ago and has been very active in automotive. But this year, they've had the first significant orders in med tech as well, so there we really see that the seeds are paying off, and there will be more business. In the U.S., it's a bit similar. Nevertheless, there we started a bit earlier with med tech. That's also why the business is not in the typical automotive belt, but in the south, and I would say we're equally set up, we're successful in automotive, but growingly successful in med tech as well. Here, especially both China and U.S., we believe that with our network, especially in the automotive business, we can further push the activities. So far, they are small to mid-size activities with 30-50 employees.

So it's not big business yet.

Peter Rothenaicher
Analyst, Warburg Research

Okay. So in general, in foreign facilities, of the 730 employees, it's less than 100 in the U.S. and China?

Jochen Weyrauch
Deputy CEO, Dürr AG

That's correct. We have in China about 50 plus, and in Atlanta, about 30 plus people.

Peter Rothenaicher
Analyst, Warburg Research

Okay, and so I understood correctly with your existing business, which is definitely very strong in China and also in the U.S., you have the opportunity to, yeah, have additional hubs for Team Player in the U.S, and China?

Jochen Weyrauch
Deputy CEO, Dürr AG

Absolutely. Absolutely.

Peter Rothenaicher
Analyst, Warburg Research

Okay. With regard to the Solar business, do you intend to step out completely of this area?

Jochen Weyrauch
Deputy CEO, Dürr AG

No. We do this quite, how should I best say, opportunistically. We're still getting orders. It's quite interesting. In the past, as I mentioned, they've been extremely successful in China in some years, doing more than EUR 50 million, up to EUR 70 million per year. And as I mentioned, that business has come down a lot because the Chinese players took over. Now we see a trend that some customers in the Middle East or other customers, I would call Western customers, want to buy Western technology again. So we've seen a little bit of an uptake on a very low level. And as the technology is there, it's developed, and the margins are quite good whenever we produce. Currently, the intent is not to give it up.

Peter Rothenaicher
Analyst, Warburg Research

Okay. Then a general question regarding profitability. So you mentioned that the margin in 2020 was not too bad. Was Teamtechnik always profitable in the recent, let's say, five, seven years, or was the result strongly fluctuating?

Jochen Weyrauch
Deputy CEO, Dürr AG

Yeah. The results were fluctuating a little bit. I mean, solar business, and it was a family-owned business, let me put it this way.

Peter Rothenaicher
Analyst, Warburg Research

Okay. But currently, automotive and med tech are both already profitable?

Jochen Weyrauch
Deputy CEO, Dürr AG

Oh, yeah. Absolutely.

Peter Rothenaicher
Analyst, Warburg Research

Okay. Thank you very much.

Operator

Thank you. If there are no further questions, I would like to come back to you.

Jochen Weyrauch
Deputy CEO, Dürr AG

Okay. Thank you very much for your interest and for your questions. I think that the call was really very well attended. If I see that correctly, we had almost all of our analysts on the line. So thanks a lot for joining us on short notice. In case you should have further questions, please don't hesitate to get in contact with the IR team. Thank you very much, guys. Wish you a nice day. Happy holidays.

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for your attendance. This call has been completed. You may disconnect.

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