Net sales of the Endress+Hauser Group increased by 16.4% to 3.351 billion euros. The company put organic growth - excluding currency effects - at 11.6%.

Currency effects and price increases "boosted" the Group's sales, but at the same time had a negative impact on earnings: as operating expenses rose faster than sales, the operating result only grew by 9.1% to EUR 473.7 million. The operating margin of 14.1% was therefore one percentage point lower than in the previous year.

Increased costs for currency hedging and, above all, high losses from financial assets resulted in a strongly negative financial result. Earnings before taxes fell by 12.0% to EUR 408.1 million. A tax rate of 25.6% (+ 2.5 percentage points) caused earnings after tax to fall by 14.9% to EUR 303.5 million. Nevertheless, the family-owned company is in a solid financial position: the equity ratio reached 80.2% in 2022, 1.1 percentage points more than in the previous year.

As incoming orders grew another 8 percentage points faster than sales in 2022, the Group was able to start the current year with a high order backlog. Incoming orders also developed positively in the first quarter of 2023. Although the Group expects this trend to weaken in the second half of the year, it is still anticipating double-digit growth in 2023. This is linked to the creation of 500 jobs worldwide.

The Group spent 242.4 million euros, around 7.2% of turnover, on research and development in 2022 (+13.6% compared to the previous year). Worldwide, 235 initial applications were filed with patent offices.

According to the company, sales developed dynamically in America and Asia, and strongly in Europe and the Middle East, with business only declining in Africa. China maintained its position as the market with the highest sales ahead of the USA, followed at a considerable distance by Germany. Endress+Hauser's process measurement technology and the sensor business of the Group company Innovative Sensor Technology IST developed well. As expected, demand for laboratory instrumentation from Analytik Jena declined somewhat after the end of the pandemic.

Investment in infrastructure

At EUR 240.5 million, the company invested 24.7% more in new buildings and facilities than in the previous year. Investment in the company's infrastructure over the last five years has exceeded the billion euro mark. Projects worth 500 million euros are currently being implemented. The four largest projects relate to the sites in Maulburg (Germany), Suzhou (China), Jena (Germany) and Greenwood (Indiana/USA).

As a result of the sanctions imposed by Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine, the Russian sales organization was closed; according to the company, 170 jobs were lost. At the end of the year, the family-owned company had 15,817 employees worldwide - an increase of 700 jobs. New trainee positions were also created. In future, 5% of all jobs will be reserved for interns, apprentices, students and trainees.

Generation change planned

© Endress+Hauser

At the end of 2023, Dr. h. c. Klaus Endress will retire as Chairman of the Board of Directors due to his age. He will be succeeded by CEO Matthias Altendorf. Dr. Peter Selders, who heads the competence center for level and pressure measurement technology, will become head of the Group. Steven Endress, currently still Managing Director in the UK, will take his place on the Board of Directors as the second representative of the family.