Positive Sentiment at the KSB Annual General Meeting
KSB's Annual General Meeting took place last week. Around 200 participants were delighted with the record figures for order intake, sales revenue and earnings. (Image source: KSB SE & Co. KGaA)
“Everyone in the company can be justifiably proud of this performance,” Dr Bernd Flohr, Chairman of KSB’s Super-visory Board, told more than 200 shareholders in attendance. The economic downturn in Germany and Europe, increasing deglobalisation and geopolitical disputes were challenging, according to Flohr.
2024 financial year
Order intake and sales revenue each grew by 5.2 % to € 3,114 million and € 2,965 million respectively. The growth of both metrics was driven by the non-European Regions. KSB significantly increased its earnings before finance income / expense and income tax to € 244.2 million (8.2 % EBIT margin) – even allowing for the external transformation costs of € 15.4 million for the introduction of SAP S/4HANA. The KSB SupremeServ Segment, in which the company bundles the service and spare parts business, contributed in particular to the increase in earnings.
Capital expenditure
In the 2024 financial year, KSB invested around € 170 million in the modernisation of its plants, and in digitalisation and sustainability. Europe accounted for most of this, followed by Asia / Pacific and the Americas.
KSB shares
The KSB shareholders are benefiting in particular from the € 147 million net profit for the year, which is lower than in the previous financial year due to a high tax rate. They approved a dividend increase to € 26.50 per ordinary share (previous year: € 26.00) and € 26.76 per preference share (previous year: € 26.26). “KSB’s share price continued its growth trajectory in the last twelve months,” said CEO Dr Stephan Timmermann. “Our market capitalisation, in other words the total value of the company’s shares on the financial market, has now risen to well above € 1 billion. KSB is not just a productive company. It is also a stable company.”
Changes to the Supervisory Board
The Annual General Meeting elected two new shareholder representatives to the Supervisory Board. Arturo Esquinca, resident in the Swiss village of Forch, was appointed to the Supervisory Board for a further term of office. Matthias Bikowski, resident in Losheim am See, was elected to KSB’s Supervisory Board for the first time. He is Managing Director of Neue Pressegesellschaft mbH & Co. KG and replaces Klaus Burchards, whose term of office ended with this Annual General Meeting. The Supervisory Board of KSB SE & Co. KGaA consists of six members each of shareholder representatives and employee representatives. It currently comprises four women and eight men.
2025 financial year
KSB continued the positive trend of the 2024 financial year in the first quarter of 2025. Order intake and sales revenue as well as earnings before finance income / expense and income tax (EBIT), adjusted for the costs of introducing SAP S/4HANA, were up on the comparative quarter of the previous year. “Against the background of US trade and currency policy, which is leading to uncertainty on the markets worldwide, we are very satisfied with how our business has performed up to now in 2025,” said Dr. Stephan Timmermann. The company wants to further increase order intake, sales revenue and earnings in the 2025 financial year and continues to maintain its target corridors for these performance indicators. Timmermann explained: “The company’s stability is based on its broad product diversification, a production network that was established over 154 years on all continents and a workforce that responds very quickly to changes.”
Source: KSB SE & Co. KGaA
