CHG-MERIDIAN achieved a year-over-year improvement in lease originations of 29.3% to a company-record figure of €2.23 billion ($2.45 billion) in 2022 compared with a figure of €1.73 billion ($1.9 billion) in 2021.
“Many markets have regained momentum after the impact of supply bottlenecks and the coronavirus pandemic and thus contributed to our positive performance,” Mathias Wagner, CEO of CHG-MERIDIAN, said. “Furthermore, the challenges of the current economic environment are leading many companies to regard financing models for IT, healthcare and industrial assets as an attractive option.”
CHG-MERIDIAN also increased its portfolio of managed technology assets by 15.2% (at original equipment value) to €8.95 billion ($9.84 billion) in 2022 from €7.77 billion ($8.54 billion) in 2021. However, the group’s net income reached €100.32 million ($110.27 million), which was 11.3% lower than the €113.13 million ($124.35 million) it recorded in 2021.
“This result had been anticipated and reflects targeted capital expenditure on our business model and on the strategic development of the model,” Wagner said. “In this context, equity investments, the founding of startups and expansion efforts are inevitably leading to capital expenditure and startup losses that, along with internal digitalization initiatives, are affecting our bottom line.”
In 2022, CHG-MERIDIAN expanded its portfolio to include its new Business Devicenow and the startup Circulee subsidiaries, adding global device-as-a-service and refurbished IT hardware for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) concepts, respectively. The company also continued to expand in the Asia-Pacific region. Following the acquisition of lifecycle asset manager OPC Asset Solutions in India and the opening of a new location in Singapore, the group is now active in 30 countries and plans to further expand into other geographies.
“We want to establish ourselves as the leading global ‘technology2use’ company because we create, finance and deliver technology usage models on a global scale, built on our circular economy business model,” Wagner said. “The many challenges we saw in 2022 have made it clear once and for all that the age of use has dawned. Technology is more indispensable than ever, but access to it is becoming increasingly challenging. Our innovative response to this problem is ‘technology2use.’ Our customers can use technology conveniently, scale it globally in accordance with their needs, and promote sustainability in a tangible manner at the same time.”
On the sustainability front, in 2022, CHG-MERIDIAN gave a second life to approximately 924,000 IT assets, marking a year-over-year increase of around 10%. Its proprietary technology centers also enabled CHG-MERIDIAN to achieve a stable refurbishment ratio of 96%. In addition, together with Helaba Landesbank Hessen-Thüringen and Landesbank Baden-Württemberg, the group scaled up its sustainable funding models through ESG-linked loans and generated an additional €200 million ($219.78 million), up from €50 million ($54.95 million) in 2021.
