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Ad hoc announcement pursuant to Art. 53 LR
Phoenix Mecano: sales stable and incoming orders up
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Phoenix Mecano: sales stable and incoming orders up
In financial year 2024, Phoenix Mecano was able to maintain sales in a challenging economic environment. Growth in the DewertOkin Technology Group division almost completely offset reduced sales in the two industrial divisions. The change in business mix resulted in lower profitability at Group level.
Kloten/Stein am Rhein, 18 February 2025. Based on provisional and unaudited figures, the Phoenix Mecano Group achieved consolidated gross sales of EUR 779.5 million in financial year 2024. This was down 0.5% from the previous year's total of EUR 783.1 million. Sales therefore held steady despite persistently weak industrial activity. Organic, local-currency sales were up 2.0%.
While net sales fell from EUR 775.5 million to EUR 770.8 million (down 0.6%), incoming orders increased by 3.3% from EUR 781.5 million to EUR 807.1 million. In organic, local-currency terms, incoming orders were up 5.6%, rising again for two successive quarters year-on-year, following a period of decline. The book-to-bill ratio was 1.04, compared with 1.01 the previous year.
Operating result and result of the period
Unaudited operating cash flow (EBITDA) fell by 12% to around EUR 75 million (previous year: EUR 85.3 million). The provisional operating result (EBIT) was around EUR 51.5 million, down 13% from the previous year's result adjusted for special items. This places it in the middle of the forecast range from 15 August 2024, last confirmed on 31 October 2024 (operating result between the previous year's level and 20% below this). The (as yet unaudited) figures indicate that the result of the period declined by 20% to around EUR 36,5 million.
Phoenix Mecano Group CEO Rochus Kobler said: "Our well-balanced portfolio enabled us to offset the weak economy in Europe with applications in attractive niches and structural growth markets. We're well prepared for an anticipated economic recovery. At the same time, we're pressing ahead with our efforts to achieve the medium-term targets by 2026."
Division performance
The Enclosure Systems division felt the effects of the weak economy, generating gross sales of EUR 215.0 million, a drop of 6.4% (also down 6.4% in local currency). More major customers were acquired in the human-machine interface segment, and the division received railway approval for industrial enclosures in India. A stainless steel production facility was added at the Saudi Arabia site in order to better harness the potential of this promising market.
Sales in the Industrial Components division fell by 17.2% to EUR 184.6 million. Organically, they were down 13.1%. The Automation Modules business area was able to expand its market share in this declining market. Sales in module technology and the solutions business increased. In the Measuring Technology business area, the high-voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission market performed strongly, with high levels of incoming orders and sales growth. By contrast, the industrial markets for transformers, chokes and filters deteriorated, before starting to bottom out at the end of 2024.
In the DewertOkin Technology (DOT) Group division, sales rose by 12.2% to EUR 370.5 million. Measured in local currency, the increase was 14.3%. Despite widespread weakness in the furniture market generally, the share of motorised comfort furniture within the furniture sector increased, and the DOT Group was able to benefit from this. Thanks to the expanding hospital market in Asia, components for nursing and hospital beds also recorded double-digit growth. The final phase of the expansion of the new industrial park in Jiaxing was completed with the transfer of functional fittings production. This means that all production activities in China are now consolidated at a single location.
Outlook
The economic recovery in Phoenix Mecano's key sales markets started later and is progressing more slowly than originally expected. Seasonal effects and ongoing uncertainty regarding US trade policy make it difficult to assess business development.
Thanks to its lean and decentralised structure, Phoenix Mecano is able to respond to changes and adapt to new circumstances with speed and agility. Meanwhile, its strong focus on promising business areas linked to the megatrends of decarbonisation, automation and demographic change mean that it is boosted by tailwinds from structural growth drivers.
The Phoenix Mecano Group's management and Board of Directors expect the economic recovery to continue, but demand is unlikely to pick up significantly until the second half of the year. Phoenix Mecano is well positioned for the next upswing.
The Board of Directors and management therefore anticipate growth in financial year 2025, and will be focusing efforts on increasing profitability.
The Phoenix Mecano Group will publish its detailed annual results for 2024 and its results for the first quarter of 2025 at 7 a.m. on Wednesday, 23 April 2025.
About Phoenix Mecano
Phoenix Mecano is a global technology company with leading positions in the growth markets of industrial automation, industrial enclosures and drive systems for electrically adjustable comfort and healthcare furniture. Headquartered in Stein am Rhein, Switzerland, the Group employs around 7,000 people worldwide and generated sales of almost EUR 780 million in 2024. Phoenix Mecano's successful business model focuses on the cost-effective manufacture of technical components and their further processing into customised products for niche applications and integration into modular system solutions. Three focused divisions supply a broad customer base in the mechanical engineering, measurement and control technology, medical technology, aerospace, alternative energy, and residential and care sectors. Phoenix Mecano was founded in 1975 and has been listed on the Swiss stock exchange since 1988.
For more information, please contact:
Phoenix Mecano Management AG
Dr Rochus Kobler, CEO
Lindenstrasse 23, CH-8302 Kloten
Tel.: +41 (0)43 255 4 255