KSB continues on its growth path

FRANKENTHAL: The pump and valve manufacturer KSB is continuing its positive business development in the first nine months of 2024. The company increased the key performance indicators of order intake, sales revenue and earnings before finance income / expense and income tax (EBIT) compared with the prior-year period.

In the period from January to September 2024, KSB increased its order intake by 2.4 % to € 2,384 million (previous year: € 2,329 million). With strong spare parts sales particularly in the Energy and Mining Market Areas, the KSB SupremeServ Segment achieved the largest increase, growing by 5.8 % to € 805 million (previous year: € 761 million). The Valves Segment’s order intake rose by 1.8 % to € 320 million (previous year: € 314 million). This was driven mainly by orders in the petrochemical / chemical business. The Pumps Segment reported an increase of 0.4 % to € 1,259 million (previous year: € 1,254 million), with disparate developments: While the Energy Market Area was up year on year by around € 24 million mainly due to major orders, order intake in the Mining Market Area fell by around € 21 million as compared with the previous year that was characterised by major orders. With order intake of around € 1,005 million, the Standard Markets were slightly above the previous year’s level of € 1,003 million.

In the first nine months, KSB increased its sales revenue by 2.7 % to € 2,171 million (previous year: € 2,114 million). The Valves Segment achieved the strongest growth with an increase of 8.2 % to € 296 million (previous year: € 273 million). KSB’s SupremeServ Segment primarily expanded its spare parts business in the Energy and Mining Market Areas, reporting growth of + 5.5 % to € 742 million (previous year: € 703 million). Sales revenue in the Pumps Segment remained stable at € 1,134 million (previous year: € 1,138 million) year on year. While the Energy Market Area achieved growth of 9.1 %, the Mining Market Area and Standard Markets were down slightly from the previous year.

In the first nine months, KSB’s EBIT increased by 4.4 % to € 188.8 million (previous year: € 180.9 million) despite costs in the amount of € 7.5 million for the introduction of the SAP S/4HANA company software. This corresponds to an EBIT margin of 8.7 %. This is particularly due to the KSB SupremeServ Segment increasing EBIT by 4.6 % to € 150.4 million (previous year: € 143.8 million). The Valves Segment achieved EBIT of € 1.9 million in the first nine months. At an operating level, this represents an improvement of € 11.0 million as the prior-year EBIT of € 0.1 million had been impacted by a one-off insurance compensation of € 9.2 million. The Pumps Segment achieved EBIT of € 36.5 million and thus remained on the previous year’s level.

“Against the backdrop of the challenges in global economy, we are pleased that we are keeping the company on its promised growth path and consistently pursuing its strategic development,” said CEO Dr. Stephan Timmermann. “The restraint with regard to major investments and construction projects is impacting our standard business, but we have compensated for this well with KSB SupremeServ. In order to counteract the weak economic situation in Europe and the slowdown in the Chinese market, we are continuing to expand our international presence. This includes, in particular, our growth strategy in the USA, which we are implementing in a targeted manner.”

KSB expects order intake, sales revenue and EBIT to be in the upper half of the forecast for the 2024 financial year published at the beginning of the year. 

KSB is a leading international manufacturer of pumps and valves. The Frankenthal-based Group has a presence on five continents with its own sales and marketing organisations, manufacturing facilities and service operations. With a workforce of around 16,000, the KSB Group generated sales revenue of approximately € 2.8 billion in 2023.

Press release: KSB continues on its growth path