GEA Reports Strong 2024 Performance Despite Economic Challenges

According to DairyIndustries, GEA Group, the technology company specializing in mechanical and plant engineering, reported an increase in both order intake and revenue for 2024, despite a challenging global economic climate.

Among GEA’s core customer industries, the main growth drivers were dairy processing, food production, and the pharmaceutical sector.

From a geographical perspective, the Asia-Pacific and North America regions saw strong growth, while Latin America, the Group’s Western Europe division, as well as the Middle East and Africa, also performed well.

Revenue rose by 0.9% year-over-year, reaching €5.422 billion (2023: €5.373 billion). Organic growth amounted to 3.7%, mainly driven by increases in separation and flow technologies, agricultural technologies, and heating and refrigeration systems.

The company raised its EBITDA margin guidance twice in 2024, before restructuring expenses, and reached its 2026 financial targets two years ahead of schedule. EBITDA before restructuring charges improved again, as did the return on capital employed (ROCE).

As a recognition of employees’ contributions to the company’s success, GEA granted a special bonus to all employees. Additionally, shareholders will receive a dividend increase of €0.15, bringing the total dividend to €1.15 per share.

According to CEO Stefan Klebert,

“2024 was a strong year for GEA. Not only did we grow our business again, but we also continued to improve profitability. This shows that our innovative strength and clear focus on sustainable technologies are valuable competitive advantages.

These achievements reflect the successful transformation of GEA. On behalf of the entire Executive Board, I would like to thank all our employees for this impressive accomplishment.”

Defying the broader industry trend in mechanical and plant engineering, GEA managed to improve all its key financial indicators. Order intake increased by 1.5% to €5.5 billion (2023: €5.469 billion).

Organic order intake growth was even higher, at 4.6%, largely driven by a greater volume of major orders (above €15 million), along with another strong year for core orders.