Keeping sales decline under control – ifm presents balance sheet figures for 2024
“The economic situation is tense, especially in our German home market,” says Christoph von Rosenberg, CFO of the ifm group of companies, on the occasion of the presentation of the balance sheet figures for 2024. “That’s why we are very pleased that we have managed to finish the past year not too badly.” After consistently increasing turnover in recent years, ifm had to accept a decline of 2.9% to EUR 1.37 billion for 2024 according to the preliminary consolidated financial statements. The fact that ifm has experienced a comparatively small decline in sales compared to other companies in this market environment is due to the group’s global orientation, which, especially in fiscal 2024, partially compensated for the weakness of the European and Asian markets by increasing sales in North and South America.
Despite the decline in sales and negative exchange rate effects, earnings (EBIT) dropped slightly to 4.8% (previous year 5.8%). “This is the result of our efforts to adjust costs at an early stage in view of the difficult overall economic situation,” explains von Rosenberg. The number of employees remained almost unchanged compared to the previous year at around 8,750. Around 1,500 of them are employed in research and development – an important sign of the Group’s innovative strength. As a result, the ifm group of companies sees itself well equipped for the future, as the CFO emphasises, “The global political developments that impact our important sales markets are difficult to predict. But if the overall economic situation develops positively again, we will definitely benefit from this to an above-average extent, as we have also consistently invested in innovation and growth in 2024.” The fact that ifm is gearing up for future growth is also demonstrated by the fact that the operating business, which was previously managed as ifm stiftung & co. kg, has been operating under the new ifm group se since the beginning of the year.
