CAREL marks 50 years of triumph

Francesco Nalini, the company’s CEO, praised the company’s dedication to innovation, environmental and social sustainability. In 2023, the business also completed two acquisitions, Eurotec and Kiona, which helped to strengthen its position in target areas and accelerate its digital services development strategy.

The CAREL Industries Board of Directors approved consolidated revenues of € 650.2 million for December 31, 2023, a 19.3 percent increase over 2022, with a 10.0 percent rise on a like-for-like basis at constant exchange rates.

Chief Executive Officer Francesco Nalini, CEO of the Group, said, “I am particularly proud to present the results of 2023, as the year just ended marks the 50th anniversary of CAREL’s foundation. In these first 50 years, we have achieved exceptional milestones. We started as a small local company and have become a world leader in the design, development, and production of control solutions for air conditioning, ventilation, and refrigeration. The daily commitment of those who have put their talent and enthusiasm at the company’s disposal, together with the constant search for innovation based on environmental and social sustainability, have made it possible to shape an uninterrupted path of success that has marked the recently concluded year.

In 2023, the Group reported consolidated revenue growth (net of currency effects) of more than 20 percent, as already in 2021 and 2022, thanks to a balanced mix of organic and external growth. From the latter point of view, 2023 was very satisfactory with the closing of two important acquisitions, Eurotec and Kiona, which were added to the nine others made since the IPO. Eurotec is a distributor and system integrator based in Auckland, New Zealand, and its acquisition is part of the group’s strategy to consolidate its presence in its target geographies through the development of its direct sales force. In the case of Kiona, a leading Norwegian company providing software solutions for optimising energy consumption and digitalizing buildings, the rationale lies in the intention of CAREL to strengthen its global leadership by seising opportunities related to the increasing digitalisation and servitisation of the sector while consolidating and accelerating its digital services development strategy.

In order to maintain the financial flexibility to be able to take advantage of possible further investment opportunities in the near future as well, in the second half of 2023, we proceeded to launch a capital increase of approximately € 200 million, which met with considerable interest in the market and was successfully closed at the end of December. Shifting the focus towards the future, despite a first part of 2024 that promises to be challenging, both because of the particularly high 2023 comparative base (due to the backlog present at the beginning of last year in the supply chain), and because of the macroeconomic scenario not particularly bright in Europe and China, the Group nevertheless intends to capitalise on the strategic choices made over the years and continue with conviction its development path based on structural and long-term growth trends, aiming for another fifty years of success.”