In 2022, ROTO’s overall safety performance declined after the acquisition of Prestia. However, in 2023, results improved as the number of incidents decreased and an extensive programme was launched throughout ROTO in collaboration with DSS (Dupont Safety Systems) to improve the safety culture in general, while aiming to prevent incidents and accidents. ROTO continues working on that ambition.
Energy prices remained relatively high, especially at the beginning of the year, and salary costs and interest rates increased. Meanwhile, steel and zinc prices fluctuated and decreased. As a result of the general economic situation, ROTO experienced a backdrop in volumes across various markets, which contributed to a partial erosion of market prices and margins. Taking these factors into account, 2023 is considered to be a moderate year from a financial point of view.
In December 2023, there was a change in ROTO’s leadership as Ditmar Koster (CEO) left ROTO. As per 1 January 2024, Petra van Saaze, member of the Supervisory Board, took over the role of CEO ad interim, ensuring a seamless leadership transition.
Continuing to work based on our ROTO Strategy House
We continued working based on our ROTO Strategy House: our compass for leading The Sustainable Colourful Metal Family Group and meeting the seventeen Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations, which are integrated into our eight core themes. We worked on the qualified and quantified strategic plans for each of the Business Units, stimulating their autonomy along the guidelines of their own strategic plans, while improving our analytical and forward-looking capabilities. To ensure cooperation and harmonisation between the Business Units, three ROTO Communities worked on common themes and made decisions on topics related to Finance, Human Resource (HR) and Safety, Health, Environment & Quality (SHEQ).
Moderate financial result
Overall, 2023 presented various challenges with peaks and valleys in the financial results of our five Business Units. During this year, ROTO’s focus was not just on financial ambitions but encompassed broad value creation in various ways. Despite economic headwinds in some of our markets, this resulted in a consolidated after-tax result of € 6.3 million (2022: € 17.1 million), further strengthening ROTO’s financial position.
We are proud to have achieved this result in an ever faster changing world, and we are very grateful to our Business Units and Family members for playing a fundamental role in our aim to deliver excellent results. Therefore, we confidently continue our efforts for 2024 and beyond. A big thank you to all our colleagues for their passion, commitment, reliability and entrepreneurship during 2023!
Petra van Saaze and Tom van Lindert, Management Board of ROTO
Broad value creation
Apart from financial results, ROTO focuses on a dashboard based on broad value creation, tied to its eight core themes. Sustainability, one of those eight themes, remains high on the agenda: it is crucial that we reduce and minimise our impact and maximise the positive effects of our activities on society and create broad value for all our stakeholders in the ROTO Ecosystem.
To help us identify our impact areas and the associated risks, we are working on labelling our data. This will help us make informed and transparent decisions and report on them in accordance with the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD).
Uitgeest, the Netherlands, 23 April 2024
Petra van Saaze, CEO, and Tom van Lindert, CFO