Dr. Michael Radke, CEO of HÖRMANN Industries GmbH: "The combination of inflation and stagnation represents a new and demanding challenge for the HÖRMANN Group. The decisive factor is that we have remained flexible and are continuously adapting our strategies to keep pace with the changing economic conditions. As a result, we have been able to cope well with these difficult times overall and, with our broad diversification across 13 business areas, we are also in a stable position for the future. We are therefore confident about the coming development and will continue to pursue the strategy of a broad positioning of the HÖRMANN Group - this is what makes HÖRMANN special!"
The Group's equity amounted to € 136.6 million as at December 31, 2023 (December 31, 2022: € 136.4 million). Despite an increase in total assets, the equity ratio decreased only slightly to 36.3% (December 31, 2022: 37.4%).
Johann Schmid-Davis, CFO of HÖRMANN Industries GmbH: "The fact that we were able to successfully end the 2023 financial year despite difficult omens and conditions is a very great success. In the fourth quarter, our employees worked hard to complete major projects, delivered many orders and thus made the good result possible with a strong final spurt. In the current year, however, we are facing similar challenges to the entire German industry, which is why we expect a decline in sales and earnings. However, we still expect a clearly positive result and it shows once again that our diversification strategy offers the entire HÖRMANN Group good stability."
Development of the business divisions
In the Automotive division, sales increased by 17.6% year-on-year from € 403.7 million to € 474.9 million. While the previous year was still impacted by several weeks of production shutdowns by major OEM customers due to the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, the positive forecasts of key customers in truck production were confirmed in the 2023 financial year, meaning that planned production volumes were exceeded. However, in addition to the increase in sales volumes, the sales trend continued to be driven by high material prices, the inflation-related development of production costs and the associated passing on of price increases with no effect on earnings. Thanks to the high increase in sales, the company achieved a turnaround in the reporting year with EBIT of € 0.2 million. A decline in sales is expected for the current financial year as a result of the decline in truck production announced by customers.
The Communication division had another good financial year and, with sales of €199.4 million, was above the previous year's level (€180.2 million) and above plan. With EBIT of € 31.1 million, the division was almost able to maintain the level of the same period in the previous year (€ 31.7 million). Both the GSM-R train radio product area and the passenger information and warning systems areas won important orders in the reporting period. The positive business development also continued to be supported by demand for qualified services for electrical planning and installation, mechanical assembly and maintenance for the expansion of the energy transition as well as investments in the expansion of rail transport. Thanks to the positive order trend, turnover is forecast to reach the level of 2023.
In the past financial year, the Intralogistics division performed well, generating revenue of € 119.7 million (previous year: € 79.1 million) and EBIT of € 3.2 million (previous year: € -3.3 million). However, the division, which was already affected by delivery bottlenecks and uncertainties in the previous year, was also impacted in the reporting year by the noticeable increase in investment restraint and postponement over the course of the year. As a result, incoming orders in the 2023 financial year fell from € 104.2 million in the previous year to € 92.4 million. As a result, a decline in sales is expected for the current financial year.
With sales of € 36.4 million, the Engineering division was also significantly higher than in the previous year 2022 (€ 21.6 million). Due to a change in the product and service mix, earnings before interest and taxes rose to € 4.3 million after € 4.0 million in the previous year. The Engineering division expects revenue in 2024 to be on a par with the reporting year.
Forecast 2024
HÖRMANN Industries GmbH expects revenue of between € 700 million and € 730 million for the 2024 financial year. The main reasons for the expected decline in revenue compared to the previous year are the lower sales volumes in the Automotive division and the weaker business performance of the Intralogistics division. Positive earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) of between € 22 million and € 24 million are targeted for the operating business. The development of working capital and available liquidity is therefore expected to remain at the level of the reporting year.
The complete, detailed annual financial statements, including a detailed interview with the managing directors of the HÖRMANN Group, Dr. Michael Radke, Johann Schmid-Davis and Dr. Christian Baur, can be downloaded here: http://www.hoermann-gruppe.de/investor-relations/finanzpublikationen/
In addition, the HÖRMANN Group also published its third sustainability report today. The voluntary preparation of this comprehensive report in accordance with the international guidelines of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI standard) underlines the long-term orientation of HÖRMANN Industries. Based on the long-standing values of the family-owned company, the sustainability report documents the diverse initiatives with regard to responsible and sustainable corporate governance, the contribution to climate protection and the assumption of responsibility for society and all stakeholders. The sustainability report can be downloaded at the following link https://www.hoermann-gruppe.com/de/unternehmen/nachhaltigkeit.
