Promised and delivered 

Mr. Haider, at the beginning of 2024, you predicted a persistently difficult market environment, for which Semperit would be well prepared. How did it turn out in the end?  

Karl Haider: As expected, it was a rather challenging year, but we achieved a very decent result. We have thus successfully continued Semperit’s proud and eventful 200-year history as a global pioneer and solution provider for elastomers. Earlier than expected, we were able to complete the sale of the medical business and hand over the remaining surgical glove production and packaging operations to Harps Global, the Southeast Asian buyer of our entire medical business, at the end of June 2024. Semperit has thus fully withdrawn from the glove business, and we are focusing 100 percent on implementing our strategy as a specialist for elastomer products for industrial customers. The integration of Rico is progressing well, and our structure with two strong divisions, introduced in 2023, has proven itself. We have therefore achieved all milestones and kept our promises despite headwinds from the market. The Semperit Group has a very solid foundation on which Manfred Stanek can continue to build as CEO from the beginning of April, together with Helmut Sorger and Gerfried Eder.  

Manfred Stanek: I am very much looking forward to that. With these strategic steps, the focus on industrial elastomers and coverage of the entire value chain in the liquid silicone sector, Semperit is very well and competitively positioned. This was one of the most important reasons why I decided to join Semperit. And, of course, the strategic challenge of further driving growth from this strong foundation and returning the Group to a revenue level of over one billion euros as soon as possible. Revenue for 2024, the starting point for these plans, is around EUR 680 million. What do the other key figures look like? Helmut Sorger: Here, too, we delivered on our promises. With revenue remaining stable, we increased EBITDA by more than 21% to around EUR 85 million, thereby exceeding our guidance of around EUR 80 million. The EBITDA margin improved by 2.3 percentage points to 12.5%. Operating EBITDA, i.e., before the effects on earnings of our major digitalization project OneERP, came to EUR 86.3 million. One important factor in the improvements was that we already responded very early on – in 2023 – and launched a cost-cutting program. We literally counted every euro to counter the market environment and increase our efficiency. In total, the savings amount to more than EUR 18 million.  

Gerfried Eder: These cost-saving measures have significantly supported our margins. And the optimized fixed costs will also further strengthen operational efficiency as soon as the cyclical upturn begins. Overall, these results for 2024 underscore the effectiveness of our strategy and divisional structure. In mid-2023, we repositioned the Semperit Group and formed two powerful divisions, SIA and SEA, which combine the specific strengths of our business and focus purely on elastomer products and solutions for industrial customers. Our expertise in rubber compounds and our innovation power, which build on 200 years of experience, as well as our daily efforts to achieve sales excellence and customer proximity as one of the leading suppliers worldwide, form the common basis for this strategy.

Let’s stay with the two divisions for a moment. They follow partly different cycles. What did the development look like in 2024?  

Gerfried Eder: Semperit Industrial Applications, or SIA for short, where we combine our large-volume business with hoses and profiles, was still affected by the economic downturn in 2024, as expected. The business of OEMs, for example in the fields of construction or agricultural machinery, in which our hoses are used, is still weak due to the economic situation. The same applies to the demand for profiles, which correlates with the construction industry, which is also still weak. As a result, the SIA division’s revenue fell by 11% year on year, but thanks to the savings and efficiency enhancements, we were able to significantly increase profitability. EBITDA rose by 11% to around EUR 52 million, and the margin improved by 3.6 percentage points to 17.8%. This clearly shows that we are very good at managing cyclical phases and focusing on the things we can influence, which include working capital, inventory reduction, tight receivables management and keeping calm in terms of pricing. We have successfully implemented this strategy while increasing our efficiency for the next upturn.  

Karl Haider: In the Semperit Engineered Applications division, or SEA, where we are strongly innovation- and technology-driven and which includes our handrails, railway products, mountain applications, conveyor belts and liquid silicone components, we increased revenue by 9%. This was mainly due to the full-year consolidation of Rico. The Form business unit performed stably, and Belting, our conveyor belt business, was below the strong level of the previous year, as expected. However, the megatrends for this area, such as electrification and urbanization, remain intact. Overall, the division’s EBITDA was just below the comparable figure at around EUR 48 million. In both Belting and mold manufacturing for liquid silicone components, we saw that some customers postponed projects due to the economic situation. Overall, the early savings also supported margins at SEA.

What is the CFO pleased about, besides cost savings?  

Helmut Sorger: On the one hand, the fact that the entire team lives the high cost discipline every day; it is part of our daily business. Wherever we see an opportunity to reduce fixed costs, we will seize it. On the other hand, my goal is to support the business in the best possible way in terms of cash generation and investment. My main focus is on free cash flow to finance growth and distributions to shareholders. And here we made very good progress in 2024. We generated around EUR 46 million of free cash flow from our operating result, or EUR 52 million taking into account the sale of the remaining medical business. Of this total, just under EUR 30 million was invested in growth. And we want to distribute around EUR 10 million as a dividend. We will therefore propose a stable dividend of EUR 0.50 per share for the 2024 financial year at the Annual General Meeting.

Cost discipline has long been part of our daily business at Semperit.

Helmut Sorger, CFO

‍

Where did the growth investments of around EUR 30 million go in 2024?  

Gerfried Eder: For one thing, to our site in the Czech town of Odry. We are investing in expanding the capacity of our hose production, which is already Europe’s largest hose factory. This is a multi-year investment with a total volume of around EUR 100 million, which will create additional capacity of up to 24 million meters of hydraulic hose per year by 2030. Around EUR 45 million have already been invested. This will ensure that we have no bottlenecks in the next upturn. With this expansion, we are setting new standards in terms of automation, digitalization and sustainability. The new production plant requires neither oil nor gas as an energy source, and the electricity demand will be covered by its own photovoltaic system in the future. Short supply chains are another advantage.

Karl Haider: In the liquid silicone sector, we invested in expanding capacity at Rico in Austria, thereby laying the foundation for further growth. The production expansion in Thalheim was completed in 2024. In addition to another office building, this primarily involves three production halls that are gradually filled with machines. In the USA, the production area at Rico doubled in size in 2024, and possible expansions are currently under review in Switzerland. Over the next few years, this will result in space for a significant capacity increase of more than 100 machines at the three liquid silicone sites in Austria, Switzerland and the USA.  

We are excellently positioned for the next upturn.

Gerfried Eder, CIO

‍

Semperit has repeatedly scored with innovations in its 200-year history, driving not only the company but also the entire industry forward. What does the current situation look like?  

Karl Haider: Our innovation pipeline is well stocked with products for a range of applications for which we can build on our long-standing know-how. One example is our hybrid handrail, which combines the bending properties and thus the durability of rubber with the glossy surface of plastic. Particularly customers in Asia prefer the shiny, shimmering surface. Or our Track Belt: high-quality rubber belts for the tracks of snow groomers. In developing this product, we benefited from our experience in conveyor belts and mountain applications, which include our ski foils and cable car upper rings. Our heavyduty rubber-metal-bonded components, which are used for fine grinding processes in mineral processing in mining, for example for copper, iron ore, gold or silver, are also very promising. These components make a significant contribution to optimizing mining processes and thus support the energy transition. Weighing over 500 kilograms, they are among the heaviest components we manufacture using compression molding.

Our innovation pipeline is very well stocked with highly attractive products.

Karl Haider, CEO until March 31, 2025

‍

Speaking of energy transition: where does Semperit stand in implementing its sustainability goals to be achieved by 2030?  

Karl Haider: In the environmental area, we are focusing on reducing energy, waste and emissions at all our sites and consistently continued to do so in 2024. In addition, improving our key figures in health protection and occupational safety is the highest priority. Starting in 2024, we have also placed another focus on diversity and inclusion and set ourselves specific targets for increasing the proportion of women overall and in leadership. This is rounded off by a comprehensive screening of our supply chain and an increasing proportion of suppliers who are audited according to ESG criteria and standards.  

What is the outlook?  

Helmut Sorger: At present, we do not yet see any signs of a market recovery. However, a market recovery beginning in individual regions in the second half of 2025 is not unlikely. Furthermore, the cost measures will be continued. Our medium-term target for 2026, i.e., operating EBITDA of around EUR 120 million, remains unchanged – provided the market supports it.

In the medium term, I see Semperit’s revenue target at over a billion euros.

Manfred Stanek, CEO from April 1, 2025