Koehler Group hits high revenue levels in 2023 financial year despite tough market conditions

In the past financial year, the Koehler Group held up well under remarkably challenging market condi-tions and a highly competitive environment. This success was due in large part to the extraordinary commitment shown by the company’s roughly 2,500 employees worldwide. In the 2023 financial year, the Paper and Renewable Energy business areas generated revenue of 1.143 billion euros. As for the company’s sales volume, it came in at 480,651 metric tons of paper.

More than respectable sales volume despite generally weak international demand

As a company with global operations and an export share of 70.2%, the Koehler Group is heavily de-pendent on regional and global economic conditions. These conditions were significantly affected by political and economic uncertainty in the previous financial year. From a sectoral perspective, the paper industry experienced insufficient capacity utilization throughout the entire year due to low demand.

Energy-intensive industries need affordable energy to remain competitive

In the energy segment, the market showed signs of easing in the 2023 financial year. Both electricity and gas prices fell compared to the previous year, but remained above pre-crisis levels. This easing of energy prices was also partly attributable to the fact that renewable energy accounted for more than half of the grid load of generated electricity in Germany for the first time last year, with a share of 55.0%. The Koehler Group got significantly closer to its 2030 Promise, with which the company wants to produce more renewable energy than it needs for its paper production operations by the end of the decade.

 

Last financial year, the Koehler Group invested around 151 million euros, a significant increase when compared to the year before that (66 million euros). These investments went predominantly into the new Willstätt site, the Wetzlar wind farm, construction work associated with the decarbonization of the Oberkirch power plant at the company’s headquarters, and other investments in the paper segment primarily intended to improve energy efficiency.