Following the very strong previous years, the Homag Group’s order intake declined in the first half of 2023. The company was, however, able to increase its sales.
Order intake decreased to 671 million euro in the first six months of 2023 (previous year: 1,031 million euro). “This slowdown in order intake does not come as a surprise”, emphasized ceo Dr. Daniel Schmitt. “After two years of exceptionally high investments, our customers are now more cautious due to high inflation and interest rates. We see this in all global regions”. The order backlog decreased to 930 million euro as of June 30, 2023 (June 30, 2022: 1,269 million euro).
As a result of the high order backlog at the beginning of the year, Homag Group sales rose to 817 million euro in the first half of the year, exceeding the already very high figure of the previous year (782 million euro). At 56.8 million euro, Ebit before special items was close to the previous year’s level (58.6 million euro). It was impacted by lower earnings contributions from service, as many customers are not operating at full capacity as a result of subdued consumer demand, therefore requiring fewer spare parts and other services. In addition, one-off costs and higher research and development costs were incurred for the Ligna trade show in May. As of June 30, 2023, the Homag Group had 7,576 employees (June 30, 2022: 7,333).
“We have adjusted to the more difficult market environment and declining order intake by implementing efficiency and cost-saving measures in order to strengthen our profitability”, Dr. Schmitt emphasized. “At the industry’s leading trade show LIGNA, we were able to inspire our customers with numerous innovations and create new investment incentives. We are confident that we will benefit from this as soon as the market situation improves again”.
