Sharp rise in revenues

Rosenbauer is increasingly outpacing the crisis

Rosenbauer is the largest firefighting equipment supplier in the world and has its headquarters and main plant in Leonding (Upper Austria).(Bild: Markus Wenzel)

"The price increases and the implemented improvements are working," said Rosenbauer CEO Sebastian Wolf at the presentation of the half-year figures. Even after three quarters, the firefighting equipment supplier from Leonding (Upper Austria) remains fully on course: because more vehicles were delivered and the equipment and service business is also doing well, revenues have risen.

Stefan Pierer, who, together with Red Bull heir Mark Mateschitz and two companies of Raiffeisenlandesbank Oberösterreich, wants to acquire a majority stake in Rosenbauer with the newly founded Robau, has his hands full at the moment due to the financial difficulties at KTM in order to ensure liquidity and reduce costs at the motorcycle manufacturer.

The acquisition of Rosenbauer, which was sealed in the summer, is currently a long time coming - all the formalities have to be clarified and approval from the authorities has to be obtained. The deal should be completed by the end of this year.

Regardless of this, everyday life at Rosenbauer continues, where an optimization program initiated under CEO Sebastian Wolf is having an increasing effect. On Friday, the fire equipment supplier presented its latest figures: Revenues climbed to 841.3 million euros after three quarters, which means an increase of 142 million euros at the end of September 2023.

Profit for the period improved, but still in the red
Earnings before interest and taxes rose to 29.4 million euros in the first three quarters, while the result for the period remained slightly negative at minus 2.8 million euros - this was also due to one-off effects, Rosenbauer emphasizes. In the previous year, the result for the period was still clearly negative, at minus 11.9 million euros.

Incoming orders rose to 1.233 billion euros. Under the guidance of interim Chief Production Officer Thomas Biringer, everything is being done to speed up production even further and thus process the order pipeline more quickly.

The completion of the capital increase, which will take place as a result of Robau's investment, is still expected this year. "Implementation is running at full speed worldwide," the company says.