Kontron, a leading global provider of IoT technology, announced its results for the 2024 financial year. The company recorded significant growth in both revenue and result, reaching new record levels.
In the 2024 financial year, Kontron increased sales by 37% to EUR 1,685 million (PY: EUR 1,226 million) or EUR 1,716 million taking into account principal revenues. The gross margin as a value-added indicator increased by 48.9% from EUR 466 million to EUR 694 million, or from around 38.0% in the previous year to 41.2%. Operating result (EBITDA) grew by 52.2% to EUR 191.8 million (PY: EUR 126.0 million) reaching a new record high. Despite the burdens from the purchase price allocation (PPA), consolidated net income after minority interests increased to EUR 90.7 million (PY: EUR 77.7 million) or EUR 1.47 (PY: EUR 1.23) per share, thus also marking a new record. Before the PPA amortization from the Katek acquisition, the net income was EUR 96.6 million.
The EBITDA margin increased from 10.3% to 11.4% overall. The most important contribution to the pleasing margin and results development was made by the Software + Solutions segment, which was only founded in 2022. The Software + Solutions segment's share of EBITDA was already over 45% in the fiscal year.
The operating cash flow, adjusted for the reduced factoring volume, amounted to EUR 149.4 million (PY: EUR 123.1 million) and thus also reached a new record level.
Kontron recorded high demand in the infrastructure and defense sectors in the 2024 financial year. The backlog increased to EUR 2,078 million as of the 2024 balance sheet date (PY: EUR 1,686 million).) and thus also to a new record. The book-to-bill ratio stood at a robust 1.23. Particularly pleasing is the fact that the order backlog is largely made up of the high-margin Software + Solutions segment.
Kontron expects revenues to grow to EUR 1,900 to EUR 2,000 million in 2025. Kontron expects operating results (EBITDA) to grow to at least EUR 220 million.
At the upcoming Annual General Meeting, the Supervisory Board will propose to shareholders a 20% increase in the dividend to EUR 0.6 per share (last year: EUR 0.5 per share).
Hannes Niederhauser, CEO of Kontron AG, comments: "The 2024 financial year was another success for Kontron with new record figures. With the new security products launched in 2024 such as KontronOS or KontronAIShield, FRMCS for railway infrastructure and secure VPX data networks for defense equipment, we are experiencing a significant increase in demand and have strengthened our position as a leading IoT provider. In view of our record backlog, we are very confident for 2025 and also see great growth potential. In addition to the state-announced investments in infrastructure and defense, increasing networking and the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in particular offer us high growth opportunities."
The Annual Report 2024 is available on the website at https://www.kontron.com/en/group/investors/financial-reports.
