Outlook for 2025
Cargotec estimates its continuing operations' comparable operating profit margin in 2025 to be above 12.0 percent (2024: 13.2 percent).
Cargotec updated its reporting structure due to the signed sales agreement of MacGregor
As announced in a stock exchange release on 14 November 2024, Cargotec has signed an agreement to sell its MacGregor business area. Due to the transaction, Cargotec reports MacGregor as a part of discontinued operations from the fourth quarter 2024 onwards. Additionally, due to the partial demerger of Cargotec registered on 30 June 2024, Cargotec continues to report its former Kalmar business area as discontinued operations as announced in a stock exchange release on 8 April 2024.
Cargotec also updated its segment reporting from the fourth quarter 2024 onwards. The MacGregor segment was removed. Hence, in Cargotec’s financial statements review 2024, there is only one reporting segment, Hiab. From the first quarter of 2025 onwards, the company is planning to have two reporting segments, Equipment and Services.
To provide a basis for comparison, Cargotec published on 7 January 2025 its reclassified financial information of continuing operations, discontinued operations, reportable segment and Corporate administration and support functions for all quarters of 2023 and the first three quarters of 2024 separately, as well as for the full year 2023. Corporate administration and support functions now reflect continuing operations. Financial information for the Hiab segment remained unchanged. Reclassified information for Equipment and Services segments is planned to be published later.
The reclassified financial information is unaudited.
Cargotec's key figures
| MEUR | Q4/24 | Q4/23 | Change | 2024 | 2023 | Change |
| Orders received | 414 | 401 | 3% | 1,509 | 1,466 | 3% |
| Service orders received | 118 | 112 | 5% | 450 | 447 | 1% |
| Order book, end of period | 648 | 799 | -19% | 648 | 799 | -19% |
| Sales | 412 | 450 | -8% | 1,647 | 1,787 | -8% |
| Service sales | 118 | 114 | 4% | 462 | 452 | 2% |
| Service sales, % of sales | 29% | 25% | | 28% | 25% | |
| Eco portfolio sales | 122 | 127 | -4% | 476 | 533 | -11% |
| Eco portfolio sales, % of sales | 30% | 28% | | 29% | 30% | |
| Operating profit | 41.0 | 38.0 | 8% | 217.1 | 219.2 | -1% |
| Operating profit, % | 9.9% | 8.4% | | 13.2% | 12.3% | |
| Comparable operating profit | 41.0 | 38.0 | 8% | 217.1 | 219.1 | -1% |
| Comparable operating profit, % | 9.9% | 8.4% | | 13.2% | 12.3% | |
| Profit before taxes | 39.3 | 35.7 | 10% | 213.4 | 205.4 | 4% |
| Profit for the period | 27.1 | 23.5 | 15% | 155.0 | 153.5 | 1% |
| Basic earnings per share, EUR | 0.42 | 0.33 | 26% | 2.40 | 2.35 | 2% |
| Personnel, end of period | 4,234 | 4,477 | -5% | 4,234 | 4,477 | -5% |
Cargotec’s key figures*
Among the below presented key figures, all include both continuing and discontinued operations.
| MEUR | Q4/24 | Q4/23 | Change | 2024 | 2023 | Change |
| Cash flow from operations before finance items and taxes | 171.7 | 292.1 | -41% | 582.3 | 544.2 | 7% |
| Interest-bearing net debt, end of period | -186 | 179 | < -100% | -186 | 179 | < -100% |
| Gearing, % | -18.1% | 10.2% | | -18.1% | 10.2% | |
| Interest-bearing net debt / EBITDA** | -0.5 | 0.3 | | -0.5 | 0.3 | |
| Return on capital employed (ROCE), last 12 months, % | 7.1% | 19.9% | | 7.1% | 19.9% | |
*Due to Kalmar business area's classification as discontinued operations, suspended depreciation and amortisation starting from 1 February 2024 had a positive EUR 17.9 million impact on the presented result figures before taxes and EUR 13.4 million positive impact on the result after taxes. Comparative information is not restated accordingly.
**Last 12 months’ EBITDA
Cargotec’s President and CEO Casimir Lindholm: Successful execution of Cargotec’s transformation according to plan
The year 2024 was a successful one for Cargotec. We executed the transformation of the company according to the targets set by the Board in 2023. We reached all our major goals for the year, continued the good business performance, completed the separation of Hiab and Kalmar, and found a solution for MacGregor.
Due to this progress in the transformation, Cargotec's continuing operations’ reported financials consist only of the Hiab business area, as well as continuing operations’ Corporate administration and support functions.
The market environment remained complex throughout the year. Expectations on lower interest rates and uncertainty in some of Hiab’s key geographies and industries delayed customer decision making. Orders received increased by 3 percent from the previous year to EUR 1,509 million. The order growth was driven by the Americas. Due to the normalised supply chain, our order book decreased to EUR 648 million. However, our book-to-bill was positive in the fourth quarter.
Our sales decreased by 8 percent from the previous year's level following the order book development and amounted to EUR 1,647 million. In our strategic focus areas, North America and services, our sales continued to grow.
Despite lower sales, we were able to improve our relative profitability with successful management of inflationary pressures as well as sourcing and supply chain actions. Our comparable operating profit decreased by 1 percent and amounted to EUR 217 million corresponding to 13.2 percent of sales compared to EUR 219 million and 12.3 percent in 2023. Comparable operating profit for the Hiab business area amounted to EUR 245 million or 14.9 percent of sales, which is a record high comparable operating profit margin for the business area.
In addition to the good business performance, we have executed the two-year transformation project according to our plans. Among the transformation milestones is the separate listing of Kalmar in the beginning of July 2024. The listing was completed only 14 months after the demerger announcement and Kalmar is now fully separated from Cargotec.
Another major milestone was achieved in November as we signed an agreement to sell MacGregor to funds managed by Triton after a successful turnaround of the business. The enterprise value of the transaction is EUR 480 million. Closing of the transaction is expected to take place by 1 July 2025 at the latest. Conditional to closing of the transaction, Cargotec’s Board is proposing an additional dividend of EUR 1.57 per class B share to be paid in 2025 in addition to the proposed ordinary dividend of EUR 1.20 per class B share.
Cargotec's transformation will be finalised this year, when we close the sale of MacGregor and Hiab will continue its growth and development as the remaining standalone part of the group. Hence, the Board is proposing to Cargotec’s Annual General Meeting of shareholders that the company’s name would be changed from Cargotec to Hiab with an effective date of 1 April 2025.
I’m convinced that Hiab will have a bright future as a standalone company. Hiab has a clear strategy that was revealed in the Capital Markets Day in May and a motivated and experienced leadership team in place. Furthermore, Hiab’s strategy execution is already well underway. For example in 2024, we signed several new dealer agreements to facilitate growth in the US, reached all-time high service sales, and continued to shape the industries we serve with 45 new product launches. This year, Hiab continues investing to increase productivity and profitability for example by streamlining the production setup in Italy and renewing product and service operations in Ireland and in the UK.
This progress coupled with the recent achievement to improve comparable operating profit margin even with lower sales further increases Hiab’s confidence to reach 16 percent comparable operating profit margin by 2028 as a standalone company.
As the name change takes place, Scott Phillips would become the new CEO of the renamed company and I would step down from the CEO position, as announced already in May 2024. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the shareholders for the trust and Board of Directors for great cooperation as well as all the current and former colleagues, partners, and customers for making 2024 another successful year for the company.
Reporting segments’ key figures
Orders received
| MEUR | Q4/24 | Q4/23 | Change | 2024 | 2023 | Change |
| Hiab | 414 | 401 | 3% | 1,509 | 1,466 | 3% |
Order book
| MEUR | 31 Dec 2024 | 31 Dec 2023 | Change |
| Hiab | 648 | 799 | -19% |
Sales
| MEUR | Q4/24 | Q4/23 | Change | 2024 | 2023 | Change |
| Hiab | 412 | 450 | -8% | 1,647 | 1,787 | -8% |
Operating profit
| MEUR | Q4/24 | Q4/23 | Change | 2024 | 2023 | Change |
| Hiab | 48.0 | 47.8 | 0% | 244.7 | 252.2 | -3% |
| Corporate administration and support functions | -7.0 | -9.8 | 29% | -27.6 | -33.0 | 16% |
| Total | 41.0 | 38.0 | 8% | 217.1 | 219.2 | -1% |
Comparable operating profit
| MEUR | Q4/24 | Q4/23 | Change | 2024 | 2023 | Change |
| Hiab | 48.0 | 47.8 | 0% | 244.7 | 252.1 | -3% |
| Corporate administration and support functions | -7.0 | -9.8 | 29% | -27.6 | -33.0 | 16% |
| Total | 41.0 | 38.0 | 8% | 217.1 | 219.1 | -1% |
Telephone conference for analysts, investors and media
A live international telephone conference for analysts, investors and media will be arranged on the publishing day at 10:00 a.m. EET. The event will be held in English. The report will be presented by President and CEO of Cargotec Casimir Lindholm, CFO Mikko Puolakka and President of Hiab Scott Phillips. The presentation material will be available at www.cargotec.com by the latest 9:30 a.m. EET.
To ask questions, please join the teleconference by registering via the following link:
https://palvelu.flik.fi/teleconference/?id=50052226. After the registration, the conference phone numbers and a conference ID to access the conference will be provided. Questions can be presented during the conference.
The event can also be viewed as a live webcast at https://cargotec.events.inderes.com/q4-2024. The conference call will be recorded and an on-demand version of the conference will be published on Cargotec’s website later during the day.
Please note that by dialling into the conference call, the participant agrees that personal information such as name and company name will be collected.
For further information, please contact:
Mikko Puolakka, CFO, tel. +358 20 777 4000
Aki Vesikallio, Vice President, Investor Relations, tel. +358 40 729 1670
Cargotec’s (Nasdaq Helsinki: CGCBV) Hiab business is a leading provider of smart and sustainable on road load-handling solutions, committed to delivering the best customer experience every day with the most engaged people and partners. The company's continuing operations sales in 2024 totalled approximately EUR 1.6 billion and it employs over 4,000 people. www.cargotec.com
1 Includes discontinued operations
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