After a challenging financial year HARTING is looking to 2025 with optimism

The HARTING Technology Group generated sales just below the one billion euros mark in the past 2023/24 financial year. At EUR 940 million, sales were recorded at 9.2 per cent (currency-adjusted -7.9 per cent) below the result of EUR 1,036 billion for the 2022/23 financial year. "With these figures we have outperformed the markets in a very challenging environment and confirmed our forecast," as Philip Harting, CEO of the HARTING Technology Group, explained at the annual press conference.

Thanks to the internationalisation of HARTING's business areas, weak domestic business was offset to a certain degree. At 155 million euros (-3 per cent), sales in the Americas region matched the prior year figures. The same applies to Asia, where the company achieved sales of 240 million euros (-2 per cent). In the EMEA region - excluding Germany - sales decreased by 9 per cent to 323 million euros. In Germany itself, a significant 20 percent sales decline to 222 million euros was recorded.

Philip Harting "These figures reflect Germany’s weakness as a business location. Our country is in a very serious economic situation and unfortunately this is largely of our own making. Salient examples include excessive bureaucracy, high energy prices and the lack of stable framework conditions for investments. If the German economic engine stutters, this also impacts the European economy. We hope that the new federal government will address these difficult framework conditions for the economy, and SMEs in particular, and enact decisive countermeasures."

"At 69 million euros, HARTING's investment volume in new products and technologies, automation and capacity expansion - as well as digitalisation – still stands above the previous year's figure," explained Philip Harting. "In doing so, we are also consistently driving our internationalisation forward, which is necessary and the key to further growth on our way to becoming a global player for connector cable solutions. True to the motto: In the region for the region - because Germany alone does not offer any growth opportunities."

Major investments include plant expansions in Poland, capacity expansions in Mexico and the USA and the opening of a new R&D office in Hanoi, Vietnam, in addition to production in Vietnam, which came online in the summer of 2023. "In the USA, we are utilising the positive growth impetus provided by the Inflation Reduction Act," says Philip Harting, who would like to see similar investment incentives in place in Germany.

The establishment of global headquarters in Switzerland announced in the middle of the year is a further step in the company's strategic development and internationalisation geared to being globally competitive and regionally effective. In future, supra-regional top management positions that drive global management will be bundled in Switzerland. The respective planning is underway, including the selection of the location, the IT process landscape and the regulations for employees. The new headquarters are scheduled to commence operations on 1 October 2025.

"Although the global headquarters will be located in Switzerland in the future, Espelkamp and the surrounding area will remain a central anchor point for HARTING - and HARTING Stiftung & Co. KG will remain headquartered in Espelkamp. Going forward, we will be engaging in our projects, initiatives and regional commitment as before," as Philip Harting emphasized.

This is why HARTING continued to invest heavily in digitalisation, automation and decarbonisation at its most important sites in Espelkamp and Rahden in Germany - also in the 2023/24 financial year, as evidenced, for example, by investing around 10 million euros in a biogas plant to supply the production facility in Espelkamp with climate-neutral and self-sufficient energy.

In response to the global economic and competitive challenges, HARTING in Germany had to review and reorganise the structure of its administrative areas in the current year. The announced job cuts in various areas, which include around 100 positions in Germany and other countries, will be implemented as socially responsible as possible and in close coordination with employee representatives by the end of 2025. At the same time, HARTING has also created new positions, for example at the research and development sites in Espelkamp, Zhuhai (China), Biel (Switzerland), Hanoi (Vietnam), Sibiu (Romania), Chennai (India) and Elgin (USA).

Thanks to its broad positioning in the connectivity business, HARTING, unlike its competitors, has been able to manage with the measures taken so far and is currently not on short-time working. The number of employees worldwide fell by 156 from 6,205 to 6,049 as of 30 September 2024, with 2,334 employees still active in Germany.

The All Electric Society (AES) is the future vision of a world in which all energy requirements are met by electricity. The required energy is generated by renewable resources such as wind and sun and then converted into electricity and distributed as needed by way of intelligent networks. The realisation of the All Electric Society will open up considerable growth prospects for HARTING. "Without the transmission of data and electricity through our connectivity, the sustainable, electrified and digitalised industrial world of the future cannot be achieved," says Philip Harting. Which is why the most advanced, leading-edge innovations in connection technology and customised cable solutions continued to take centre stage at HARTING in the past financial year: Together with its sister company, Studer Cables AG, the company presented new weight-reduced inter/car jumper solutions for railway technology and the first standardised interface for power transmission in electrified agricultural vehicles. Other focal points are connectivity solutions for energy generation and distribution as well as for the transmission of data and power for Industrial Ethernet and data centres.

HARTING is not only focusing on sustainability in its connectivity products, but also within the company itself. HARTING has made considerable progress in decarbonisation on the road to climate neutrality and has already achieved the 2027 targets in 2024. By 2027, the Group aims to reduce CO₂ emissionsworldwide by 60 per cent and achieve climate neutrality by 2030. To this end, HARTING once again invested in the development of bio-based, CO₂-reducedconnectors and the production and use of green energy in the 2023/24 financial year. "Our goal is clearly defined: We want to be climate-neutral in Scope 1 and 2 by 2030," explains Philip Harting.

The business climate in the German electrical and digital industry has continued to deteriorate recently. Both the assessment of the current business situation and general business expectations declined compared to the previous months. Only 7 per cent of companies in the ZVEI industry association expect business to pick up over the next 6 months. The majority of companies anticipate activities remaining the same, while a third expect them to decline.

In view of the rise in incoming orders, however, the HARTING Technology Group expects to exceed the billion-euro sales mark again in 2025, with growth coming in between 6 and 9 per cent. "Although we are currently experiencing uncertain times, I am nevertheless optimistic about the future," explains Philip Harting. "The general conditions for our business, however, remain challenging. We are therefore keeping a close eye on market developments so that we can react quickly if necessary."

With regard to the medium term, the HARTING Technology Group intends to grow in line with planning. Consequently, the company must continue to position itself in a sustainable, regional and even more international manner. Philip Harting: "This internationalisation will therefore also be the focus of all our activities in the coming year."