Krones, the German beverage machinery manufacturer, is continuing its profitable growth trajectory. Today, the machinery builder released its business figures for the first quarter of 2024.
Although orders amounted to EUR 1.483 billion, slightly below the extremely high level of the previous year (EUR 1.513 billion), they were also 17.4% higher than in the fourth quarter of 2023. Due to high demand, the order backlog continued to grow in the first three months of 2024. By the end of March 2024, the company had orders worth EUR 4.358 billion on the books, exceeding the previous year's value of EUR 3.781 billion by 15.3%. Thus, Krones continues to receive more new orders than it delivers. According to CEO Christoph Klenk, "orders now extend well into the second half of next year."
Revenue in the first quarter increased only by four percent to EUR 1.263 billion. Krones attributes the disproportionate growth in the first quarter to the reduced number of working days and the fact that the newly acquired Swiss company Netstal Maschinen (inside.beer, 29.1.2024) was only included in the books at the end of March.
Netstal specializes in injection molding machines, which Krones still needed to have the entire production and recycling chain for PET plastic in-house. The company brings in EUR 200 million in revenue and has around 550 employees.
The new business figures also hint at the purchase price for Netstal, which has not been disclosed so far. The financial outflows due to merger and acquisition activities in the first quarter totaled €180.1 million, "mainly including the payment for Netstal Maschinen AG." Thus, a sum slightly below Netstal's annual turnover was paid.
Including its 550 employees, Krones now employs 19,350 people. Since Krones announced at the beginning of the year that it would further increase its staff, the company could narrowly reach the threshold of 20,000 employees by the end of the year.
