Ziehl-Abegg starts the year 2025 with a tailwind

The construction of new data centers in particular - especially in the USA, but also in Asia - is providing a breath of fresh air. The positive development is also reflected in personnel planning: since the turn of the year, more than 200 temporary workers have been brought on board in Germany alone.

With sales of 893 million euros in 2024, Ziehl-Abegg was around 7 percent down on the previous year (2023: 955 million euros). The decline was particularly pronounced in Germany, where sales were down by more than 20 percent, but the rest of Europe also fell short of expectations. In contrast, business in the Americas (North and South America) increased significantly, while there was slight growth in Asia. "Growth in the Americas and Asia was unfortunately unable to compensate for the negative effect in Europe," says CEO Joachim Ley. The Air Treatment division once again accounted for the lion's share of business (90% of sales), while Drive Technology contributed 10%.

Despite the weak market, Ziehl-Abegg stuck to its long-term strategy of regional development and production. There were no redundancies - the reduced capacity utilization was cushioned by temporary work and short-time working. Overall, the number of employees at Ziehl-Abegg rose from 5,000 to 5,300. The increase in personnel took place abroad; 2,800 people are still employed at the three German locations.

Investing for the future - but with an eye on costs

In addition to market changes, 2024 was also characterized by significant investments: In August, a new plant was opened in the USA - the largest single investment in the company's history at 100 million euros. In spring 2024, another production facility started operations in Vietnam. And at the end of 2023, a new plant was built in Poland - planned for the expected boom in fans for heat pumps, which, however, failed to materialize. "Long transportation routes make products more expensive and are also not ecologically sound," explains CEO Ley. These investments underline Ziehl-Abegg's long-term growth concept, but also require strict cost discipline, despite the full order books.

Outlook: Growth drivers for 2025

The demand for energy-efficient solutions for data centers is growing strongly. In the USA and Asia, operators are increasingly relying on high-performance fans from Ziehl-Abegg to optimize the energy efficiency of their systems. This trend is creating optimism for the year 2025.

Ziehl-Abegg traditionally does not publish profit figures - but one thing is clear: 2024 was not economically satisfactory. This makes the strong start in 2025 all the more important. "The company is ready for growth globally - we have done our homework," emphasizes CEO Ley.