Annual report 2023: Satisfactory result for foundry group
19 June 2024
BIRN Group, one of Northern Europe's largest foundry groups, has just published its financial statements for 2023, where the expectations for the year were both achieved and improved with a pre-tax profit of EUR 9 million compared to EUR 4.7 million the previous year. However, revenue fell slightly from EUR 201 million to EUR 187.7 million in 2023, while equity grew to EUR 67.2 million.
In many ways, 2023 was a satisfactory year for one of Northern Europe's largest foundry groups, BIRN Group. With a pre-tax profit of EUR 9 million compared to EUR 4.7 million in 2022, Group CEO Claus Beier is pleased with the year's results:
- It is certainly positive that we have managed to achieve and even improve our expectations for this year's result, which is partly due to a better-than-expected development in our foreign subsidiaries. In addition, we are generally working in all our companies to optimize processes, productivity and performance, and it's good to see that this is influencing the bottom line, he says.
However, the group has experienced a slight decrease in revenue, which in 2023 amounted to EUR 187.7 million compared to EUR 201 million in 2022, primarily due to a decrease in the cost of energy passed on to customers. At the same time, equity has grown from EUR 61.4 in 2022 to EUR 67.2 million in 2023.
Intensified collaboration across the group
BIRN Group includes the companies BIRN in Holstebro, TASSO in Odense, ULDALL in Vejen, BIRN Germany in Germany, KOCKUMS MASKIN in Sweden and TASSO BERNAREGGI in Italy, and according to the Group CEO, 2023 has been a year where synergies between the subsidiaries have been strengthened.
- Our collaboration across the group and in different functions in the companies has intensified, which has also contributed to the positive result. We work together as one team across the group and subsidiaries, and over the past year we have optimized our collaboration on common customers and markets, Claus Beier explains.
Continued increased focus on sustainability
BIRN Group has just published its second sustainability report, and the group's strong focus on sustainability is resonating with customers. The demands for documentation of climate impact and how the group is working to minimize it are growing.
- Our great strength lies in our constant focus on how we can do things differently and better, including how we can use technology better. In 2023, for example, we have worked with artificial intelligence in production for more precise dosing of molten iron, and we are also working to regulate our power consumption so that we use the electricity in the most optimal way and relieve the electricity grid, says Claus Beier.
After a few years of extraordinarily high activity and uncertain supply chains, the supply situation has now stabilized for most industries and thus also for BIRN Group. Combined with large customer inventories, it is therefore expected that the group's main markets will face a slight decline in activity in 2024, says Claus Beier:
- The result for 2023 is satisfactory, and although we are facing a slight decline in the market in 2024, the forecasts remain reasonable for the industry in general, where the truck industry, among others, will need other types of components in line with the shift to electric trucks.
In many ways, 2023 was a satisfactory year for one of Northern Europe's largest foundry groups, BIRN Group. With a pre-tax profit of EUR 9 million compared to EUR 4.7 million in 2022, Group CEO Claus Beier is pleased with the year's results:
- It is certainly positive that we have managed to achieve and even improve our expectations for this year's result, which is partly due to a better-than-expected development in our foreign subsidiaries. In addition, we are generally working in all our companies to optimize processes, productivity and performance, and it's good to see that this is influencing the bottom line, he says.
However, the group has experienced a slight decrease in revenue, which in 2023 amounted to EUR 187.7 million compared to EUR 201 million in 2022, primarily due to a decrease in the cost of energy passed on to customers. At the same time, equity has grown from EUR 61.4 in 2022 to EUR 67.2 million in 2023.
Intensified collaboration across the group
BIRN Group includes the companies BIRN in Holstebro, TASSO in Odense, ULDALL in Vejen, BIRN Germany in Germany, KOCKUMS MASKIN in Sweden and TASSO BERNAREGGI in Italy, and according to the Group CEO, 2023 has been a year where synergies between the subsidiaries have been strengthened.
- Our collaboration across the group and in different functions in the companies has intensified, which has also contributed to the positive result. We work together as one team across the group and subsidiaries, and over the past year we have optimized our collaboration on common customers and markets, Claus Beier explains.
Continued increased focus on sustainability
BIRN Group has just published its second sustainability report, and the group's strong focus on sustainability is resonating with customers. The demands for documentation of climate impact and how the group is working to minimize it are growing.
- Our great strength lies in our constant focus on how we can do things differently and better, including how we can use technology better. In 2023, for example, we have worked with artificial intelligence in production for more precise dosing of molten iron, and we are also working to regulate our power consumption so that we use the electricity in the most optimal way and relieve the electricity grid, says Claus Beier.
After a few years of extraordinarily high activity and uncertain supply chains, the supply situation has now stabilized for most industries and thus also for BIRN Group. Combined with large customer inventories, it is therefore expected that the group's main markets will face a slight decline in activity in 2024, says Claus Beier:
- The result for 2023 is satisfactory, and although we are facing a slight decline in the market in 2024, the forecasts remain reasonable for the industry in general, where the truck industry, among others, will need other types of components in line with the shift to electric trucks.