CHG-Meridian: ‘the pandemic has not blown us off course’

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espite difficult economic conditions during 2020, the CHG-Meridian Group, a provider of IT and finance, including computer leasing, was able to deliver a successful financial year, the company said in a statement.

New customer business proved to be particularly challenging, as economic uncertainty and supply shortages made forward-looking planning and investment much more difficult for companies and organisations.

For these reasons, lease origination decreased by 12 per cent to €1.758bn in 2020 (2019: €1.995bn).

Dr Mathias Wagner, chairman of the board of management, said: “The pandemic has presented us with considerable challenges, but it has not blown us off course. “Our digital and sustainable business model, based upon the circular economy, has proven itself highly resilient and reliable.”

This is reflected in the growth of the technology portfolio that CHG Meridian manages on behalf of its customers, which reached a total of €7.5bn as of 31 December 2020 (31 December 2019: €6.9bn). The Group’s profit from ordinary activities (before taxes) amounted to €123m, which was significantly higher than the year before (2019: €91m). Net income (after taxes) rose from €65m to €87m, a very positive year-on-year increase of 35 per cent.

One of the reasons for the positive trend of net income across the international Group is the strong growth in previous years, the company said. CHG-Meridian’s portfolio has continually expanded across its three core areas of IT, industrial technology, and healthcare technology. The positive effects continued into 2020.

The CHG-Meridian Group refurbished and remarketed a total of 880,000 used IT assets in 2020, a rise of 26 per cent (2019: 697,000). 96 per cent of all returned assets were given a second life.