The CLAAS Group finished fiscal year 2023 with excellent results. To a major extent, this was thanks to a higher demand. Overall sales reached € 6.1 billion, an increase of almost 25%. The company celebrated 50 years of the Jaguar self-propelled harvester, won the Tractor of the Year award and introduced a wide range of new products.
“Fiscal year 2023 was very successful,” says CLAAS CEO Jan-Hendrik Mohr. “The substantial leap in sales in the past year reflects the high demand for agricultural equipment. Once the supply chain situation eased following the pandemic, we were able to systematically tackle the very high order backlog and deliver our agricultural machinery to our customers around the world.”
CLAAS generated sales of €6.1 billion, equating to an increase of just under 25%. “Sales again improved significantly in North America, and especially in Europe,” says CFO Henner Böttcher. “In addition, we managed to more than triple income before taxes.” That particular indicator rose to €522.3 million from €166.3 million in the previous year. Net income increased to €347.1 million. “The successful issuance of €350 million in debt certificates and the increase of the syndicated loan to €850 million with simultaneous extension of duration allowed us to significantly strengthen our financial flexibility,” Böttcher adds.
The XERION 12.650 TERRA TRAC was named “Tractor of the Year 2024,” while the entire series was honored with the “Farm Machine 2024” award in the large tractor category. CLAAS also completed its combine harvester product family by launching the EVION, a new series that is especially tailored for small farms. Together with the LEXION and TRION series, CLAAS has offers a wide-ranging combine harvester product range.
Intelligent equipment in focus
Through digital solutions, CLAAS is driving progress. Innovation focuses on new, smart machinery, as well as on CLAAS connect: a general digital ecosystem that further strengthens connectivity between machinery and operators, between the cloud and partner programs, and between farmers and sales partners. CLAAS connect is scheduled to go online in selected sales regions in fall 2024. “Autonomy and artificial intelligence are the trends that will shape the future of agricultural technology, with smart agricultural equipment making an essential contribution to sustainability and – above all – to food security,” says Mohr.
When developing new technologies, CLAAS relies on internal development resources, as well as on alliances and partnerships. In September, CLAAS joined forces with the start-up AgXeed and the long-standing partner Amazone to found multi-manufacturer autonomy alliance, 3A – Advanced Automation & Autonomy. The goal of the collaboration is to advance the automation of agricultural processes and the development of agricultural machinery that is capable of working autonomously. In addition, CLAAS also presented a joint project with AgXeed and thermal Drones. The project combines the use of drones and AI-based software to spot fawn and breeding nests with automated and fully autonomous grassland mowing by tractor or robot.
Two anniversaries also made fiscal year 2023 a special one for CLAAS: Fifty years ago, the self-propelled Jaguar forage harvester was built in Harsewinkel. The family business also looked back on 20 years of CLAAS standard tractors. The 150,000th CLAAS tractor rolled off the assembly line in Le Mans in early 2019. Four years later, just in time for the 20th anniversary, that figure was estimated to stand at 200,000.
Market environment challenging
“In the new fiscal year, however, we will have to prepare ourselves for a more difficult market environment,” says Mohr. “While order backlog is returning to normal, the pace of economic activity is slowing perceptibly in our core markets in Central and Western Europe and North America, due in no small part to high inflation and mounting geopolitical tensions. In light of current events, the CLAAS Group will consistently pursue the strategy it has adopted and continue to build on its strengths.” The Group will focus on the development of new products and technologies. Technological solutions that have so far been viewed in isolation are to be even more strongly connected to each other going forward and made available to customers.
