Economic slowdown: Würth expects a sharp drop in profits

The assembly and fastening specialist Würth is clearly feeling the effects of the economic crisis. Company patriarch Reinhold Würth told the German Press Agency in Künzelsau that he expects pre-tax earnings to decline by 25 to 30 percent in the coming financial year. In 2023, the operating result before taxes was 1.4 billion euros. Sales will be slightly lower in 2024. He expects a minus of 2 percent, said Würth. In 2023, revenue was still 20.4 billion euros.

At the age of 89, the entrepreneur is largely withdrawing from his life’s work. As announced at the beginning of October at the ceremony marking his 75th working anniversary, he wants to hand over the chairmanship of the foundation’s supervisory board to his grandson Benjamin Würth on January 1, 2025.

The 89-year-old has no worries about the survival of the family business. “We still have an equity ratio of 48 percent. The company is very healthy. We have nine billion in equity capital on our balance sheet.” Customer stocks have been reduced. So the customers would have bought little, would have lived on their stocks and at some point they would reach zero point where they would have to reorder. “But what worries me much more is of course the world political situation. I mean this Ukraine crisis, Trump’s coming to power in the USA.”