Hempel ‘surpasses expectations’ in 2023

Revenue for the year was €2.351 billion whilst adjusted EBITDA increased 14.8% to €349 million.

“Hempel delivered record-breaking results in 2023,” said Michael Hansen, group president and chief executive of Hempel.

“We set ambitious targets and we surpassed our expectations. The strong results were thanks to a stellar performance across our business.”

The company says it has maintained its focus on sustainability, enabling it to lower its carbon footprint whilst still delivering growth across all four customer segments.

Marine and Energy delivering double-digit organic revenue growth of 26.2% and 18.6%, respectively. The Decorative segment maintained its position as Hempel’s largest segment in terms of revenue, delivering €792 million for the year whilst the Infrastructure customer segment expanded sales by 9.6%.

The company attributes much of the growth to its ‘Double Impact’ strategy first launched in 2020 with the aim of doubling revenue within five years. “We are well on our way to deliver on this,” said Hansen.

In 2023 the company added a further pillar of ‘Scalable Operations’ to better use resources across all segments. “The aim is to generate higher sales, without seeing an equal increase in costs, through more effective and efficient ways of working together,” continued Hansen.

Hempel’s two new Chinese factories are now up and running and the company says it made significant progress towards delivering on its science-based targets and ESG commitments, decreasing its combined Scope 1 & 2 emissions by 51% compared to its 2019 baseline.

The 2024 outlook is expected to be single-digit organic revenue growth and an EBITDA margin around 15%.