The wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, increasing global geopolitical tensions, high costs for raw materials and energy, and rising interest rates as well as persistently high inflation – the industry continued to face strong headwinds in 2023. Despite all of this, the internationally active refractories manufacturer RATH has remained on a very good course and topped the revenue achieved in 2022, which had previously been the highest in the company’s more than 130-year history.
RATH Group’s consolidated revenue increased by 4 percent year-on-year to EUR 121.8 million in 2023 (previous year EUR 117.6 million). EBITDA increased to EUR 16.4 million (previous year EUR 11.6 million). At 14 percent, the EBITDA margin (previous year 10 percent) is at a very high level. EBIT doubled to EUR 9.9 million (previous year EUR 5 million), bringing the EBIT margin to 8 percent (previous year 4 percent).
Entry into the booming Indian market
With its investment in a joint venture in India, completed in February 2024, RATH Group is tapping into an important future market.
“Together with our partner Avanee Refsol India, we are currently setting up a production facility in Visakhapatnam,” said Andreas Pfneiszl, Speaker of the Executive Board of RATH Group. “This will also enable us to access larger production capacities beyond our current production sites in the future. It’s an investment that will enable us to reach the Asian growth market better and faster.”
Expansion of the Executive Board
Alexandra Rester became the new CFO on June 1, 2023. Rester took over the role of CFO from Andreas Pfneiszl at RATH Aktiengesellschaft, headquartered in Vienna. This is against a backdrop of increased future requirements in the Group (e.g. ESG & EU taxonomy), developments in international markets and the company’s targeted growth course, factors that have necessitated a change in corporate management.
The Executive Board now comprises three officers – Rester is serving as CFO alongside Andreas Pfneiszl, who acts as the Speaker of the Executive Board, and Ingo Gruber serving as COO and CTO.
Rester is a certified public accountant, tax advisor and CPA and has 25 years of experience as an auditor/partner in one of the “Big Four” accounting firms, most recently as an independent auditor.