Lely reports 3% dip in turnover to €857m for 2024
Dutch dairy equipment group, Lely has today (Thursday, February 20) reported a total turnover of €857 million for 2024, down from €888 million in the previous year.
The company said that the revenue decline of 3.4% "reflects the global political uncertainty for dairy farmers and the agricultural sector in general".
The financial results show "good resilience and a bounce back to normal levels of sales" during the final quarter of 2024, which Lely said "gives confidence heading towards 2025".
The company continues to invest 8.8% of total turnover in research and development for new innovations, with a particular focus on sustainability.
Last year, Lely marked 20 years of Discovery manure solutions, the installation of the 50,000th Astronaut and the installation of the first Exos in Germany.
In September, the company also launched its new strategy for 2025-2030.
It also brought three new products to the market: the cow and barn monitoring system Zeta; feed pusher for large-scale farms, Juno Max; and next generation manure robot, Discovery Collector C2.
"Although the dairy sector remains our primary focus, we have included exploring alternative proteins as an additional source of income for the farmer," it said.
André van Troost, chief executive of Lely acknowledged that 2024 had been "a tough and challenging year" for the company, adding they are "not surprised by the slightly lower results".
"The ongoing uncertainty in the agricultural sector globally, in combination with stricter regulations, increased production costs and low but gradually improving milk prices make farmers hesitant to invest.
"At the same time, we continue to see a growing demand for sustainably produced dairy with an expected growth in dairy intake of around 2% worldwide," he said.
Van Troost noted that the adoption of robotics and data management continues to increase globally.
While Lely expects 2025 again to be "quite challenging", it noted that the orderbook is slightly better than last year.
"We see higher milk prices and signs of declining interest rates for farmers. At the same time, we observe ongoing uncertainty in the agricultural sector globally.
"We will continue to support our farmers worldwide in their work to produce sustainable and nutritious dairy products.
"The long-term outlook for robotics and data management remains very bright," it said.
