June 15, 2023: Lead battery manufacturer Banner reported record full-year sales of €307 million ($333 million) on June 6 — but warned increasing European red tape and rising energy prices were major burdens.

The Austria-based firm said auto batteries were the key driver of its sales for the year ended March 31, which it said were up by more than 7% over the previous year.

Banner said it sold more than four million starter batteries over the period.

Meanwhile, a new licensing partnership with Leoch International for the Banner brand in China and an extension of the company’s licensing deal with Duracell should boost future sales in Asia and Europe.

Banner said the past financial year was characterized by far-reaching, global changes throughout the entire automotive industry, rising energy, raw material and labour costs and increasingly problematic supply chain issues.

Group commercial CEO Andreas Bawart said the rise in sales was despite “massive cost increases in every area from raw materials to labour and naturally the meteoric upturn in energy prices.

 “A short-term improvement is not in sight and unfortunately the EU and Austria are contributing to these difficulties.

“A vast number of regulations have been introduced, the implementation of which has led to a huge increase in the administrative burden upon small and medium-sized enterprises like ours.”