"In view of the weakening economy and despite the increasingly difficult situation in the second half of the year, we are satisfied with the financial year. We are proud of the sales growth we have achieved," says Matthias Lapp, CEO of the Lapp Group. Excluding negative exchange rate and copper price trends, growth amounted to plus 8.2%.

In Europe, which continues to account for the largest share of the company's turnover, Lapp defied the difficult economic environment and increased its turnover. Inflation caused procurement prices to rise, particularly for raw materials, and there were also cost increases in transport logistics. "Increasing regulation, planning uncertainty, high energy prices and, last but not least, the shortage of skilled workers are causing us great concern," emphasizes Matthias Lapp. The company is therefore increasingly focusing on growth outside Europe.

The company invested a total of 67 million euros in production and technologies worldwide - an increase of 66% compared to the previous year. This is Lapp's response to the increasing decoupling of markets, which is clearly noticeable on all continents. The focus was on the expansion of Chinese, Indian and European production sites, the strengthening of production capacities in France, Italy and Switzerland and the expansion of warehouse and logistics space in the USA. For example, a second plant was opened in Shanghai, which specializes in data cables and Single Pair Ethernet solutions. In addition, a first production site was opened in Mexico.

Growth driver electromobility

There was strong growth in the area of electromobility. The business recorded an increase in sales of around 35%. In order to further expand growth with new OEM customers, a new production unit was set up in the Czech Republic. Other growth drivers last year included solutions for the battery business. Lapp products are not installed in the batteries themselves, but the connection solutions are used for corresponding automation systems in factories and for energy storage systems. The business with data solutions for industrial communication also grew significantly. This is driven by the trend towards factory automation. In the APAC region alone, the increase here amounted to 20.5%.

Financial year 2023/2024

"Due to the ongoing economic challenges, particularly in our home market of DACH, we are expecting a weaker order intake in the current financial year, which we will have to actively counteract in terms of costs and sales. In general, no growth is not an option for us," emphasizes Matthias Lapp. The focus therefore remains on North America and Asia, but the company also continues to see growth potential in Europe and the Middle East.