Altensteig. The Boysen Group, based in Altensteig (Baden-Württemberg), can look back on the 2024 financial year with satisfaction. "The major crisis in the German automotive industry has not spared us. In the end, however, the fact that we achieved an outstanding result in disastrous times and are solidly positioned for the future both in our core business of exhaust technology and in new business with battery housings for electric vehicles outweighs this," says CEO Rolf Geisel.
According to the company's CEO, turnover in 2024 will be 2.64 billion euros, around 21 per cent below the previous year's figure of 3.36 billion euros. The good news: "We still achieved our planned result in full." In line with tradition, the foundation company does not provide exact figures.
Geisel had already predicted the first significant drop in turnover in his almost 40-year era as Boysen CEO in the same place a year ago, forecasting a massive drop in the price of precious metals, which the Boysen Group uses in its catalytic converters for exhaust gas purification: "In total, the drop in prices will cost us around 450 million euros in turnover in 2023 and 2024."
What could not have been foreseen a year ago, however, was the major slump in sales in the mobility sector, which hit the automotive and export nation of Germany particularly hard. "We, too, had to accept some considerable declines in call-offs for existing orders. In turn, we were largely able to compensate for this with outstanding results from our production plants in China and the USA," says Geisel, adding: "2024 has once again shown that Germany is no longer fit for the future as a business location under the current conditions. To put it clearly in a nutshell: Our employees abroad secure the jobs of our employees in our home market of Germany. A far-reaching policy change is more urgent than ever."
The number of employees worldwide within the Boysen Group has risen slightly and currently stands at 5,300. The Managing Director: "In times when many industry giants - including foundation companies like Boysen - are affected by massive job cuts, short-time working and complete site closures, this is a success story, especially as we will continue to grow here by establishing new sites in the coming years."
At 220 million euros (compared to 165 million euros in the previous year), Rolf Geisel has once again set a new record for investments in 2024 in the company's history to date : "While we averaged 100 million euros here in previous years, we are talking about well over 500 million euros between 2023 and 2025, which will go towards securing the future of the Boysen Group and its jobs. The most important news at the end of 2024 is that we assume that our Group's jobs will continue to be secure in 2025 and that Boysen employees can look forward to a profit share in the region of 3,000 euros."
Large parts of the record investments are due to the development of new business with battery housings for electric vehicles. The production plants required for this in Nagold (northern Black Forest) and Nyíregyháza (Hungary) "have been completed and will start the ramp-up of battery housing production for our customers Mercedes-AMG and BMW this year as planned. With these two plants, where for the first time we are not producing exhaust technology for combustion engines but exclusively for electromobility, we are writing the next chapter in our more than 100-year company history."
Work at the new BAK development centre in Simmersfeld began in early summer 2024. The Managing Director cites the bundling and expansion of the range of services in the field of battery housing development as a focal point, "in order to open up further sales potential for us. For example, by upgrading the housings to complete battery systems."
According to Geisel, Boysen is also making further progress in exhaust technology: "One positive development for us last year was that some of our OEMs radically changed their strategy of only offering electric vehicles in the future, in some cases , and are instead increasingly focussing on combustion engines again. One outstanding development was the order we won to produce hotends for three model series from a German premium manufacturer, which will secure us an additional sales volume of around 500 million euros per year from 2026."
Accordingly, the Managing Director's outlook is as follows: "2025 will be another year of expansion and investment for us, although we anticipate a further, albeit only slight, drop in sales. Thanks to the ramp-ups in battery housing production and the aforementioned exhaust technology order, we expect sales to increase significantly again from 2026 and finally jump over the three billion euro mark again in 2027." However, Geisel emphasises that he has to make this assessment with reservations: "It is not possible to predict further developments in the largest automotive sales market in China, nor is it clear to what extent US President Donald Trump will put his announcements on punitive tariffs for German car manufacturers into practice."
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The core business of the Boysen Group, headquartered in Altensteig (Baden-Württemberg), is the development and production of high-performance exhaust systems and components for passenger cars, commercial vehicles and off-highway applications. In addition to the three main customers Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz, the exhaust technology specialist works for the German car manufacturers Volkswagen and Porsche, the British brands Bentley and Rolls-Royce, the commercial vehicle manufacturers Daimler Truck and MAN as well as in the field of off-highway applications for Krauss Maffei, mtu, Voith and others.
The Boysen Group has been driving forward its technological transformation since 2016. With new product groups such as battery housings, hydrogen fuelling systems, control elements and electronic components, the next chapter in the company's 100-year history is being written. Further building blocks of the future strategy are the production of energy storage systems (redox flow battery systems) and fuel cells as well as basic and product development in the field of hydrogen technology.
The Boysen Group is a foundation company and currently employs around 5,300 people at 30 locations in Germany and abroad. In addition to the development sites in Altensteig, Nagold and Simmersfeld, Boysen has production sites in Altensteig, Simmersfeld, Heubach, Salching, Ingolstadt, Plauen and Achim as well as in France, Egypt, South Africa, India, China, Mexico, Hungary, Serbia, Romania and the USA.
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For further questions please contact:
Christian Grimm
Marketing Team Leader
BIN Boysen Innovationszentrum Nagold GmbH & Co. KG
Carl-Friedrich-Gauss-Str. 4
72202 Nagold
Tel. 07452/8408-200
Fax 07452/8408-8200
E-mail christian.grimm(at)bin.boysen-online.de
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