EQS-News: JOST closes financial year 2024 successfully. Strong free cash flow of EUR +115 million paves the way for future growth. 

JOST closes financial year 2024 successfully. Strong free cash flow of EUR +115 million paves the way for future growth. 

• Sales guidance achieved: Sales of EUR 1,069.4 million (2023: EUR 1,249.7 million).
• Resilient profitability: Adjusted EBITDA margin stable at a high level of 13.9% despite cyclical market decline (2023: 13.9%)
• Operating earnings guidance achieved: Adjusted EBIT reaches EUR 113.0 million following sales (2023: EUR 140.8 million) and adjusted EBIT margin reaches 10.6% (2023: 11.3%)
• Free cash flow grows despite decline in sales: Free cash flow increases to EUR +115.1 million (2023: EUR +112.3 million)
• JOST advances its long-term growth strategy: With the acquisition of Hyva, JOST has taken another key step towards achieving its "Ambition 2030"

Neu-Isenburg, February 18, 2025 - JOST Werke SE ("JOST"), a leading global producer and supplier of safety-critical systems for commercial vehicles, published today its preliminary and unaudited results for fiscal year 2024.

Joachim Dürr, CEO of JOST Werke SE, says: "2024 was an important and eventful year for the future of JOST. In a challenging market environment, we were able to maintain a strong profitability despite declining sales. This is further proof of our flexibility and resilience. JOST further strengthened its broad international footprint and widened its product range in 2024, once again launching numerous product innovations in markets around the world. With our "Ambition 2030" strategy, we have set the groundwork for further profitable growth worldwide in both the on-highway and off-highway markets. The acquisition of Hyva, which has now been completed, is a major step in this direction, opening up new markets and bringing JOST new customers. We are very well equipped for the future and look ahead to 2025 with optimism."

Sales and earnings performance

The market development in 2024 was characterized by a cyclical slowdown in demand in the transport sector in all regions. In Europe and North America in particular, the production of trucks and trailers increasingly declined over the course of the year. Demand for transportation equipment also declined in Asia-Pacific-Africa after the hoped-for recovery in economic performance in China failed to materialize. In the agricultural market, demand for agricultural tractors also remained weak in 2024, as falling crop prices and persistently high interest rates had a negative impact on farmers' willingness to invest.

JOST could not escape the overall market development. Accordingly, group sales in 2024 declined by 14.4% year-on-year to EUR 1,069.4 million (2023: EUR 1,249.7 million). Sales in the transport business went down by 19.4% to EUR 801.0 million (2023: EUR 993.4 million). By contrast, revenue from agricultural components increased by 4.7% to EUR 268.4 million in 2024 (2023: EUR 256.3 million), partly supported by acquisition effects from the consolidation of JOST Agriculture & Construction South America Ltda. (formerly: Crenlo do Brasil) and LH Lift in the amount of EUR 55.2 million. Adjusted for acquisition and currency effects, JOST's sales in the 2024 financial year declined by 18.3% compared to the previous year.

Despite the sharp decrease in sales, JOST was able to keep its adjusted EBITDA margin stable year-on-year at 13.9% due to efficiency improvements and quickly implemented cost-cutting measures (2023: 13.9%). Adjusted EBITDA developed in line with sales, declining by 14.4% to EUR 148.1 million (2023: EUR 173.1 million). As forecast, adjusted EBIT decreased at a slightly faster pace than sales by 19.8%, reaching EUR 113.0 million (2023: EUR 140.8 million). This was mainly due to the development of depreciation and amortization, which due to investments in 2023, for example for the construction of a new production plant in India, could not decrease in line with sales. The adjusted EBIT margin therefore amounted to 10.6% (2023: 11.3%).

Europe

In Europe, revenue in 2024 fell by 10.4% to EUR 616.5 million compared to the previous year (2023: EUR 687.8 million). Revenue from the consolidation of JOST Agriculture and Construction South America Ltda (formerly: Crenlo do Brasil) and LH Lift Oy, which were acquired in the previous year and are reported in the Europe segment, had a positive impact. Adjusted for acquisition and currency effects, sales in Europe declined by 17.2% in 2024 compared to the previous year. JOST was able to partially offset this decline in sales operationally. For example, the region introduced measures such as capacity adjustments and short-time work during the course of 2024 in order to stabilize profitability. Supported by this development, adjusted EBITDA in Europe developed in line with sales, declining by 10.7% to EUR 59.0 million (2023: EUR 66.0 million). Accordingly, the adjusted EBITDA margin remained stable at the previous year's level of 9.6% (2023: 9.6%). Adjusted EBIT, impacted by the fact that depreciation and amortization remained on the same as in the previous year, decreased more sharply to EUR 37.1 million in 2024 (2023: EUR 46.2 million). Thus, the adjusted EBIT margin in Europe declined to 6.0% (2023: 6.7%).

North America

In North America, sales contracted by 27.0% to EUR 258.7 million in 2024 (2023: EUR 354.2 million). In addition to the very weak market for trailers and agricultural front loaders since beginning of 2024, a slowdown in demand for trucks was also observed over the course of 2024, which put additional pressure on the sales, particularly in the fourth quarter of 2024. Adjusted for currency and acquisition effects, sales in North America declined by 26.9% in 2024 compared to 2023. Amid this market development, JOST was able to benefit from a positive change in the product mix in the region, as the share of technologically advanced front loaders for professional agricultural use increased compared to the share of compact loaders. The proportion of aftermarket also increased compared to the previous year. These effects, combined with a favorable trend in material costs, enabled JOST to maintain a high level of profitability. Adjusted EBITDA in North America declined to EUR 35.7 million (2023: EUR 50.7 million) and the adjusted EBITDA margin amounted to 13.8% (2023: 14.3%). Adjusted EBIT contracted to EUR 29.3 million (2023: EUR 44.8 million) and the adjusted EBIT margin was 11.3% (2023: 12.6%).

Asia-Pacific-Africa (APA)

In Asia-Pacific-Africa (APA), JOST saw a slowdown in demand over the course of 2024. This was mainly due to the negative market development in India, China and South Africa. In the Indian market in particular, political uncertainty in connection with the elections led to a reluctance to buy on the part of many customers. JOST was able to benefit from the increase in the agricultural business, which was primarily due to the commissioning of a new production plant in Chennai, India. Nevertheless, sales in APA contracted by 6.4% to EUR 194.3 million in 2024 (2023: EUR 207.6 million). Adjusted for acquisition and currency effects, APA sales in 2024 fell by 7.3% compared to 2023. Adjusted EBITDA also declined by 6.6% to EUR 46.5 million following the sales development (2023: EUR 49.8 million). At 24.0%, the adjusted EBITDA margin remained stable compared to the previous year (2023: 24.0%). Adjusted EBIT declined slightly more sharply by 8.3% to EUR 39.6 million year-on-year (2023: EUR 43.2 million). The adjusted EBIT margin amounted to 20.4% (2023: 20.8%).

Free cash flow at record level

In the 2024 financial year, JOST further increased the previous year's strong free cash flow to EUR +115.1million despite the decline in sales (2023: EUR +112.3 million). This improvement is mainly due to the improvements achieved in working capital. Free cash flow per share increased to +7.72 (2023: EUR +7.54).

Investments in property, plant and equipment and intangible assets (excluding acquisitions) increased slightly to EUR 33.3 million in the 2024 financial year (2023: EUR 30.8 million). The main reasons for this were investment projects to increase automation in North America, to localize the production of agricultural front loaders in Brazil and to consolidate production plants in the US and China. As a result, investments increased to 3.1% of sales (2023: 2.5%) and are slightly above the corridor of 2.5% to 2.9% planned for 2024. This is primarily due to the fact that JOST carried out the planned investments to strengthen the group's efficiency despite the market-related decline in sales.

Working capital fell sharply by 30.5% to EUR 164.2 million in 2024 compared to the previous year (2023: EUR 236.1 million). JOST was thus able to significantly improve the ratio of working capital to sales in the last twelve months to 15.3% compared to the previous year and was well below the target of 19.0% (2023: 18.0%).

Net debt decreased significantly by a total of EUR 53.2 million to EUR 127.5 million as of December 31, 2024 (December 31, 2023: EUR 180.7 million), although JOST made the payment of EUR 15.0 million for the investment in Trailer Dynamics GmbH in 2024, paid a dividend of EUR 22.4 million and the earn-out payment for the purchase of Quicke in the amount of EUR 21.2 million.

Given the very good development of net debt, JOST was able to significantly improve its leverage ratio in a challenging environment despite the revenue-related decline in adjusted EBITDA. Leverage decreased to 0.86x (December 31, 2023: 0.99x). JOST has thus achieved its goal of further reducing the leverage ratio (ratio of net debt to adjusted EBITDA) compared to 2023.

Oliver Gantzert, Chief Financial Officer of JOST Werke SE, says: "We demonstrated a strong operational performance in fiscal year 2024 and were able to further strengthen our already very good financial base. The strong free cash flow we generated and the very good leverage ratio have given us an excellent starting position to secure the financing for the Hyva acquisition without our leverage rising above 2.5x. As a result, we are financially very well prepared to implement the integration of Hyva at full speed and leverage the identified synergies."

The final audited results for the 2024 financial year including the 2024 Sustainability Report, the dividend proposal and the outlook for the 2025 financial year will be published on March 26, 2025, together with the 2024 Annual Group Report. In this context, JOST will host a virtual conference on March 26, 2025, at 11:00 a.m.

Contact:

JOST Werke SE
Romy Acosta
Head of Investor Relations
T: +49 6102 295-379
romy.acosta@jost-world.com

About JOST: JOST is a world-leading producer and supplier of safety-critical systems for the commercial vehicle industry. Under the umbrella brand of JOST, the comprehensive range of products is categorized into systems for On-Highway (transport industry) and Off-Highway applications (agriculture and construction industries). JOST’s global leadership position is driven by the strength of its brands JOST, Hyva, ROCKINGER, TRIDEC and Quicke, its long-standing client relationships serviced through its global distribution network, and its efficient and asset-light business model. With its five core brands, the company is the global leading producer of fifth wheel couplings, landing gears, agricultural front loaders and front-end tipping cylinders. Since the acquisition of Hyva in 2025, JOST employs over 7,500 staff worldwide, has sales and production sites in more than 35 countries, and operations on six continents. JOST has been listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. Further information on JOST can be found here: www.jost-world.com