How did Kramp perform financially in 2024, and how did that measure up against the expectations for the year? Roeland Tjebbes, Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Kramp, is pleased with our high topline growth and strong investment position.
When looking back on 2024, Roeland sees the glass as being half full rather than half empty. “We performed better than the previous year, achieving topline growth of 3.4%. We managed to maintain a stable margin as a percentage of sales, resulting in a slightly higher EBIT and EBITDA than in 2023,” he states.
“We are happy with this performance, especially considering the unfavourable market conditions in our main industry: agriculture. With a lack of liquidity at the famer and higher interest rates the market for agriculture was challenging. On top of that we saw high inflation predominantly in salaries” continues Roeland.
Targeted approach to growth
“At the same time, we intensified our focus on the forest & landscaping and small earth moving industries, leading to good performance in those sectors. This demonstrates that a targeted approach to new product/market combinations – supported by the right people and the right tools – can make a real difference,” adds Roeland.
Despite these positive growth figures, he also sees some room for improvement. “Unfortunately, we didn’t deliver on all the ambitious goals we set for ourselves – particularly the continued reduction of our operating expenditure (OpEx),” he continues.
“This is partly because of high inflation in 2024. Especially in wages and distribution costs, we have seen significant increases. Over the last couple of years our cost grew faster than our turnover, which is a trend we need to break. During 2024, we invested in our assortment which led to higher availability for our customers. However, extra inventory always comes at a cost. Together with higher interest rate our total cost was significantly higher than the year before,” explains Roeland.
Investing in the future
According to him, Kramp’s ongoing investments, such as in IT and warehousing, will help to reverse this trend for the longer term: “For example, Masterplan, the major multi-year project to transform our warehouse in Varsseveld will significantly improve our cost efficiency as well as our delivery performance.”
Therefore, it is important to continue to invest in the future. “But to fuel those investments in futureproofing our business, we will focus even more strongly on balancing costs in 2025, especially because the ‘monster’ of high inflation will remain with us for the foreseeable future,” comments Roeland.
“By taking targeted action, we can ‘spend smarter’ and reduce our costs as a percentage of sales,” he says. “For instance, we are intensifying our efforts to maximise the return on investment in projects by ensuring the effective allocation of resources and steering each process to successful completion,” adds the CFO.
Selective about acquisitions
At the end of 2024, Roeland was satisfied with Kramp’s overall financial position, and he is also optimistic about the coming year: “We are a healthy company, growing in multiple markets, with a solid and stable balance sheet and good solvency. This gives us room to manoeuvre in terms of investments and also acquisitions, if the right opportunity arises.”
“We didn’t find any suitable acquisition candidates in 2024, but we remain open to that course of action as a path to growth when it is deemed beneficial, prudent and really adds value for us and our partners,” he continues.
Ambitions for 2025
In conclusion, Roeland summarises the ambitions for 2025: “With our ever-expanding ‘fit-to-win’ assortments as well as our excellent delivery service making life a bit easier for our customers and partners every day, we expect to sustain our topline growth. Combined with our cost-conscious mindset, we will take Kramp to a higher level of profitability to safeguard the future of our business for many generations to come.”
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