CLAAS benefits from high demand

“The 2023 financial year was very successful. The significant increase in sales in the last year reflects the high demand for agricultural machinery. Now that the situation in the supply chain has eased following the pandemic, we have been able to consistently process the very high level of orders on our books and deliver our agricultural machinery to our customers worldwide thanks to a strong team performance,” reports CLAAS CEO Jan-Hendrik Mohr.

CLAAS achieved total sales of €6.1 billion – an increase of almost 25%. “Sales again improved significantly in North America and especially in Europe,” says CFO Henner Böttcher. “We were also able to more than triple our pre-tax profit.” This figure rose to €522.3 million from €166.3 million in the previous year, while the annual net profit increased to €347.1 million. “The successful issuance of a €350 million promissory note and the increase of the syndicated loan to €850 million, together with the extension of the loan term, have significantly strengthened our financial flexibility,” adds CFO Henner Böttcher.

Impressive new products – awards for the XERION 12 series high-horsepower tractors 

CLAAS launched the XERION 12 series tractors in North America in the summer of 2023 to great acclaim. The most powerful CLAAS tractor of all time features, among other things, newly developed triangular crawler track units and numerous assistance systems – impressive innovations that have been well received: At Agritechnica, the world’s largest trade fair for agricultural technology, the new XERION 12.650 TERRA TRAC was voted “Tractor of the Year 2024” and the entire series won the “Farm Machine 2024” award in the large tractor category. CLAAS also completed the combine harvester product family with the EVION, a new series tailored to the needs of smaller farms. Together with the LEXION and TRION series, CLAAS has the most modern and comprehensive combine harvester range on the market.
 

Focus on intelligent agricultural technology

CLAAS is driving progress throughout the industry with digital solutions: At the Agritechnica innovation show, the focus was not only on new, smart machines, but also on an overarching digital ecosystem: the new CLAAS connect. CLAAS connect, which is due to go online in the first sales regions in autumn 2024, links machines and farms, the cloud and partner programs even more closely with farmers and distributors. “Autonomy and artificial intelligence are the topics that will shape the future of agricultural technology. Intelligent agricultural technology makes a decisive contribution to sustainability and, above all, to securing the food supply,” says Jan-Hendrik-Mohr.

When developing new technologies, CLAAS relies not only on its own development resources, but also on collaboration and partnerships. Together with the start-up AgXeed and its long-standing partner Amazone, CLAAS founded “3A – Advanced Automation & Autonomy”, the world’s first manufacturer-independent autonomy alliance for agricultural technology, last September. The aim of the alliance is to advance the automation of agricultural processes and the development of autonomous agricultural machinery. At Agritechnica, CLAAS presented a XERION 12.590 TERRA TRAC with Autonomy connect for highly automated and autonomous tillage, as well as a joint project with AgXeed and Thermal Drones, which combines the detection of fawns and breeding clutches using a drone and AI-based software with automated or even fully autonomous grassland mowing using a tractor or robot.

2023 marked milestones in the CLAAS success story 

Two anniversaries made the 2023 financial year very special for CLAAS: 50 years ago, the company built its first self-propelled forage harvester at its home base in Harsewinkel, Germany. From the outset, the machine stood out for its excellent reliability, high efficiency and low operating costs – features that have contributed significantly to the company’s global market leadership. The family business can also look back on 20 years of CLAAS standard tractors. After the 150,000th CLAAS tractor left the Le Mans factory in spring 2019, the 200,000 mark is expected to be broken in the company’s 20th anniversary year.

Challenging market environment

“In the new financial year, however, we have to be prepared for a more difficult market environment. While the level of orders on our books is normalising, the economy in our core markets in Central and Western Europe and North America is weakening noticeably, not least due to high inflation and increasing geopolitical turbulence,” says CLAAS CEO Jan-Hendrik Mohr. “Against the backdrop of current events, CLAAS will continue to consistently pursue its corporate strategy and further build on its strengths.” The focus will be on the development of new products and technologies. In the future, technological solutions that were previously considered in isolation will be more closely networked and made available to customers.
 

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CLAAS Group, Corporate Communications
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