The Elma Group continued its transformation process in 2023 and increased both order income by 5.5% and net sales by 8.1% compared with the previous year. The company’s profit improved from CHF 4.2 million in the previous year to CHF 5.0 million in 2023. The Board of Directors will propose to the 2024 Annual General Meeting an unchanged dividend payment of CHF 2.00 per share.
The Elma Group is committed to sustainability as an important aspect of our corporate culture. In addition to success of our business activities, Elma attaches great importance to taking responsibility for our employees, caring of the environment and making a positive contribution to society. These values are in line with the principle of sustainable initiatives, which includes economic, environmental and social aspects. Management and employees assume their responsibilities.
In order to meet the increasing demands for transparency and to make our commitment more visible, Elma publishes a sustainability report. We focus our efforts on reducing CO₂ emissions, protecting and safeguarding our employees, respecting human rights (e.g. preventing child labor) and combating corruption.
The calculations of greenhouse gas emissions (Scope 1 and Scope 2) were conducted and validated for the first time for 2021 as the base year. Understanding current emissions is the first step in defining goals that ensure long-term environmental protection and the success of our company. We want to continue on this path, concentrating our efforts on concrete measures within the company.
We publish our sustainability report 2023, including reporting on non-financial matters in accordance with Article 964b of the Swiss Code of Obligations.
In the first half of 2023, the Elma Group continued its transformation process and significantly increased both order income and net sales. In order to ensure deliveries to serve the high demand for customized system solutions, inventories were deliberately built up and the headcount of new specialists and skills increased. On the other hand, the sharp fluctuations in production volumes due to unreliable supply chains, particularly in the Americas region, had a negative impact on the results.
EBIT include expenses associated with the transformation and related adjustments to the organization and business processes. In order to benefit from the positive market environment, Elma intends to create scalable structures and drive forward the necessary digitalization with a new generation of IT tools (ERP, PDM, CRM). The higher costs associated with these investments led to lower profitability compared with the previous year. While the Europe and Asia regions made positive profit contributions to, the Americas region recorded a loss as a result of the still insufficient supply of important electronic components, higher purchase prices and significantly higher personnel costs. Overall, Elma closes the first half of 2023 with a lower profit compared with the previous year.