Editorial

Continuously high interest rates have led to a further softening of the global construction market, with Central Europe being one of the geographies affected the most. At the same time, parts of the Middle East, Asia and Latin America are home to pockets of market growth. In addition, the onshoring of key technologies and investments into the energy transition drive construction activity in the Energy and Industry sector.

In this volatile environment, we recorded growth of 1.5 percent in local currencies. Latin America, the Middle East and Asia grew strongest, while the difficult market environment has left its mark on our development in Europe. Overall, our global growth represents a continued outperformance of the market. The appreciation of the Swiss franc, however, not only brought growth down to -1.4 percent in Swiss francs, resulting in a turnover of CHF 6.4 billion, but also had a significant impact on our financial result. Despite this effect, and despite our continued strong investments into the future, return on sales increased to 12.0 percent, leading to an operating result of CHF 769 million. This performance was primarily driven by solid margin improvements. 

With the many innovative new products launched in 2024, for example our new HST-4 mechanical anchor, the BX-4 direct fastening tool or the TE 50 combi hammer, we help our customers be more productive on the jobsite. In addition, our software offering helps our customers drive productivity in how they run their businesses. In 2024, we completed the integration of 4PS, a Netherlands-based market leader in construction business software. Paired with solid organic growth of our existing software offering, this addition resulted in a strong development of our productivity software business. In 2024, we continued to invest significantly into innovation, at the level of 7 percent of sales. 2024 was also a year characterized by increased investments in the expansion of our sales resources globally, a major driver of our market outperformance.

To further secure the resilience of our supply chain, we also completed a significant expansion of our production network globally.

After reaching CO₂ neutrality in our own operations in 2023, we further progressed on our sustainability journey in 2024. Our ongoing efforts were recognized with our 4th consecutive gold rating by EcoVadis and our ambitious CO₂ reduction targets were validated by the Science Based Targets initiative.

In light of all these developments, we can say that 2024 was a good year for the Hilti Group. In a challenging environment, we gained market share and delivered strong financial results. We made good progress in the implementation of our group strategy Lead 2030 and, with that, in securing the future of our company. A big word of thanks goes to our 34,000 Hilti team members worldwide. Thank you for your hard work and dedication throughout a year that was certainly not always easy. I would also like to express my sincere gratitude to our customers, suppliers and partners across the globe. Thank you for your loyalty to Hilti, and for Making Construction Better together with us.


Jahangir Doongaji