For the Rosenbauer Group, 2024 was the second year of a successful turnaround phase in which, as announced, we significantly improved yet again. While we had focused first and foremost on reducing our manufacturing costs in the wake of the 2022 crisis year, in the reporting year we turned our attention to optimizing our main value creation process – providing, selling, and building firefighting vehicles. As part of the “Offer to Cash” project, we thus took a very close look at all sub-processes from the submission of the quotation to the handover of vehicles, identified numerous areas with potential for improving results, and in some cases have already taken action. We will now continue to utilize these step by step.

The results for the 2024 financial year present a number of all-time highs in Rosenbauer’s company history and clearly show that we have successfully reversed the trend! Thanks to increased vehicle deliveries and growth in equipment, customer service, and components, we succeeded in substantially boosting our consolidated revenues year-on-year by 23% to €1,305.9 million. EBIT rose to €64.9 million thanks to measures aimed at enhancing profitability, and EBT tripled to €26.3 million despite higher financing costs. At the same time, we succeeded in clearly reducing the amount of capital required for operating purposes, or in other words, advance financing for our customer orders.

The shorter our throughput times, the faster we process our orders, the faster we record incoming payments, and the higher our customers’ down payments are, the smaller the amount of capital we need to use and the more efficient we are. We have also planned to make further improvements in 2025.

2024 was also a year in which we proved our innovative capability. For example, we introduced the HEROS H10, a new wildfire helmet that meets five European protection standards and can be used by the emergency services in a variety of ways. At the FLORIAN trade fair for fire departments in Dresden, we presented the new FOX: the most powerful portable pump ever launched.

We have also consistently continued to electrify our vehicle fleet. Since October, the PANTHER 6×6 electric, which we presented as a concept study at Interschutz 2022, has been available for interested airport fire services to order as a pre-series vehicle. The all-electric twin of the legendary PANTHER deploys tremendous power in boost mode and achieves better acceleration and top speed than an ARFF vehicle with a conventional drive. The substantial reduction in CO2 emissions in day-today operations also helps airport operators achieve their climate protection targets. The first two PANTHER 6×6 electric vehicles have already been ordered and will be delivered to Dallas Love Field Airport, Texas, USA, and Christchurch International Airport, New Zealand.

Sustainability is an important future-focused topic for the Rosenbauer Group and an integral part of our long-term corporate strategy. We have therefore prepared a non-financial report in accordance with the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS) for the first time for the 2024 financial year. Even though the Austrian Implementation Act related to the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) is still pending, with the transparent presentation of our sustainability performance we are sending a clear signal about the importance of non-financial objectives. In addition to responsible corporate governance, our focus is on integrating environmental and social aspects into our business model. The updated reporting provides all readers with a solid basis from which to understand our commitment to sustainable and profitable growth.

A record order intake of €1,705.2 million boosted our order book significantly once again in 2024 and provides legitimate grounds for optimism. The order backlog is now €2,279.8 million and will ensure capacity utilization until 2026. It not only reflects the broad positioning of our Group but also the unwavering trust of our customers, which we are able to maintain through our consistent relationship management and product innovations. On this basis, the Executive Board expects sales and earnings to increase further in 2025 and anticipates sales of around €1.5 billion, with an EBIT margin of over 6%.

Since February of this year, we have had a new, strong majority shareholder, Robau Beteiligungsverwaltung, at our side as we move forward. This Austrian consortium supports Rosenbauer’s strategic positioning as the only global player in its industry and wants to work with us to further expand its global market leadership. By implementing the capital increase, our Group has received approximately €119 million in new capital, which has increased our equity ratio to 26% (based on the financial statemens 2024). The regained stability not only secures the trust of investors and financing partnerships, but also creates the necessary scope to take advantage of future growth opportunities.

I would like to take this opportunity to express my sincere thanks to our employees, who have shown a high level of commitment and dedication over the past year. I would also like to thank you, our shareholders, for the support you have shown and look forward to continuing to count on your trust.

Sebastian Wolf
CEO, Rosenbauer International AG