EQS-News: New strategy “TAKKT Forward” prioritizes portfolio focus and profitable growth

New strategy “TAKKT Forward” prioritizes portfolio focus and profitable growth
 

• Presentation of the new strategy “TAKKT Forward” today at 2 p.m.
• TAKKT expects organic growth of between minus four and plus six percent in 2025
• Adjusted EBITDA margin to come in between six and eight percent in 2025
• Dividend of EUR 0.60 per share for the financial year 2024
• Annual report and sustainability report 2024 published

Stuttgart, Germany, March 27, 2025. With today's presentation of the new corporate strategy, TAKKT is taking a new direction: “TAKKT Forward involves focusing the portfolio on our attractive core business, the consistent exploitation of growth opportunities and a significant improvement in operating performance,” says CEO Andreas Weishaar. The goal of the new strategy is to return to profitable growth. To this end, TAKKT wants to gradually accelerate organic growth and gain market share. The EBITDA margin is to be improved to over ten percent by 2028 and around 12 percent in the long term. In addition, the Group wants to further expand its cash flow strength and convert between 50 and 60 percent of EBITDA into free cash flow on average.

An important strategic decision as part of “TAKKT Forward” is to strengthen the core business in the Industrial & Packaging division. TAKKT sees the greatest long-term potential for growth and profitability here and wants to expand its own position as one of the market leaders in Europe. At the same time, the Group is systematically developing the American brands National Business Furniture, Hubert and Central in order to consolidate their market position and enable profitable growth. TAKKT is examining various strategic options for the display business in the USA under the Displays2go brand.

TAKKT aims to improve its own positioning and growth by consistently focusing on the needs of its customers. The priority here is on large and medium-sized corporate customers. “The basis of our success is the precise and reliable procurement of the required business equipment so that our customers can concentrate on their core processes. We are therefore improving our offering for corporate customers with complex procurement requirements,” says Weishaar. This includes the expansion of the product range to include additional product categories as well as the expansion of services, particularly in the area of custom-made products and project consulting. Smaller customers are to be addressed even more efficiently in the future - with digital self-service offerings and a clearly focused product range. With this differentiated approach, TAKKT creates added value for all customer groups - from corporate groups or fast-growing SMEs to small businesses or sole traders. In addition, TAKKT has positioned itself as a provider of sustainable products with comprehensive certifications along the supply chain in order to benefit from the increasing demand in this area. By 2028, half of sales are to be generated with sustainable products.

In addition to the portfolio focus and growth, improving performance is a key component of “TAKKT Forward”. Through targeted investments, TAKKT is expanding the automation of processes and strengthening the use of artificial intelligence. In addition to increasing profitability, the performance measures also aim to improve cash generation through further structural improvements in the management of net working capital.

The economic conditions in the 2025 fiscal year will remain challenging, also due to the risks posed by higher import tariffs and the existing political uncertainty. “Despite this environment, we are convinced that we will achieve an improvement in sales and earnings by consistently implementing our strategy. We have it in our own hands to take advantage of the existing opportunities and thus ensure a return to profitable growth,” says Weishaar. With sales and earnings still burdened by the effects of the previous year at the beginning of the year, TAKKT expects increasingly positive effects from the growth initiatives as the year progresses. For the full year 2025, the organic growth rate is expected to be between minus four and plus six percent. The one-off expenses for structural adjustments will be lower than in the previous year. “We will continue to strike the right balance between cost management and investments in growth and systems. We expect the adjusted EBITDA margin to be between 6.0 and 8.0 percent, depending on sales growth,” says CFO Lars Bolscho.

The past year has shown that TAKKT can ensure a high level of cash generation even in difficult times. The Management Board will therefore propose a base dividend of EUR 0.60 per share for the 2024 fiscal year to the Shareholders' Meeting, thus continuing the reliable dividend policy. In 2025, TAKKT will continue to work on improving cash generation and again expects positive contributions to free cash flow from the release of net working capital. Due to the expected investments in growth, free cash flow in 2025 will be lower than in the previous year.

In autumn 2024, Dr. Johannes Haupt informed TAKKT that after more than twelve years on the Supervisory Board, he wishes to step down from his position at the end of the 2025 Shareholders' Meeting. The Shareholders' Meeting will therefore decide on the election of a new member to the Supervisory Board. The candidate for his successor is Henk Derksen, who is already familiar with the company through his work as CFO at TAKKT's majority shareholder Haniel. Before joining Haniel's management, he was Executive Vice President and CFO at the technology company VIAVI Solutions.

Capital Markets Update: March 27, 2025 at 2 p.m. (CET)
The management team led by CEO Andreas Weishaar will present the new strategy and the associated goals in a virtual event today at 2 pm. To participate, please register using this link: Registration Capital Markets Update

Financial calendar
TAKKT will publish the figures for the first quarter on April 29, 2025.

Key figures for the TAKKT Group for the 2024 Financial Year
(in million Euro)

About TAKKT AG

TAKKT AG is the leading omnichannel distributor for business equipment in Europe and North America. The Group is represented in more than 20 countries with its Industrial & Packaging, Office Furniture & Displays and FoodService divisions. The product range of the subsidiaries comprises more than 400,000 products for the areas of plant and warehouse equipment, office furniture, transport packaging, display articles and equipment for the food service industry, hotel market and retailers. The company is represented in the Prime Standard of the German Stock Exchange.

Contact
Benjamin Bühler    

Phone +49 711 3465-8223
Email: investor@takkt.de