While investment restraint had little impact on the financial performance of Swiss-headquartered spinning machinery leader Rieter in 2023, the company is currently facing a drastic fall in incoming orders.

The company recorded sales of CHF 1,418.6 million for 2023, compared to CHF 1,510.9 million in 2022, down 6%, but started 2024 with an order backlog of just CHF 650 million, compared to CHF 1,540 million at the start of 2023.

Geopolitical uncertainties and higher financing costs have led to  reticence to commit to new investments in the major textile markets, the company reports, and many anticipated projects have yet to become concrete.

Profit at the EBIT level for 2023, however, was CHF 101.7 million compared to CHF 32.2 million for 2022, in part due to falling logistics costs, higher margins and lower production costs, but CHF 72.5 million was due to the sale of land in Winterthur, Switzerland. As a result, net profit for 2023 was CHF 74.0 million compared to CHF 12.1 million in 2022 – a jump of 512%.

Rieter is now working on cost cutting and looking to grow its after sales and components business in order to achieve a more balanced mix. At the same time, a transfer of resources to India and China should enable a more agile response to to customer needs.

In an encouraging sign, at the beginning of March Rieter received an order for a first batch of technology amounting to around CHF 62 million from Shanghai Digital Intelligence World Industrial Technology Group (DIW).

The company expects demand to further increase in the coming months and anticipates sales for 2024 in the region of CHF 1 billion.

www.rieter.com