Lely reports financials over 2023 with mixed feeling

‘Farmers need clarity and perspective so they can continue to feed the growing world population’

Highlights:

• €888 million turnover* (2022: €704 million).
• 25% revenue growth, according to expectation.
• 2024 is proving challenging due to low milk prices, high interest rates & political uncertainty.
• Proud to celebrate our 75th anniversary and launch our vision on the Farm of the Future.
• High farmer satisfaction for Vector and Astronaut.

Lely, market leader in automated systems & data management for dairy farmers, today presented its annual results for 2023 with a total turnover of €888 million (2022: €704 million) according to expectation. The revenue growth of 25% ensures that Lely can continue to invest in sustainable innovations & increasing compliance demands for dairy farmers worldwide. 8% of total turnover was invested in Research & Development for new innovations for the Farm of the Future.  

Increasing global demand for robots & data management

André van Troost, CEO of Lely: "I am proud of this result but have a mixed feeling. Worldwide, we continue to see a growing demand for sustainably produced dairy. We also see the adoption of robotics and data management increasing due to labour shortages and the farmers’ wish to optimise milk yield and increase animal health. At the same time, many farmers are struggling due to stricter regulations, lower milk prices, high interest rates & political uncertainty. We continue to ask our politicians to remain open to innovation for making the sector more sustainable and to give clarity and long-term perspective to the farmers so they can continue to feed the growing world population.”

New vision on Farm of the Future

Last year marked Lely's 75th anniversary, a milestone that was celebrated in June 2023. We proudly look back on a successful event, which we were able to celebrate thanks to the support of our loyal farmers who have shown trust in Lely since 1948. During this event, we presented our new vision on the Farm of the Future. In this vision, we have specified five impact areas. These are based on both the farmers’ and the consumers’ needs and will guide our innovations in the coming years.

Adoption of robotics

In 2023, the adoption of robotics and data increased globally. Largest growth can be seen in the more mature markets in Western Europe, but also in North and South America and Asia we see increasing interest in milking, feeding, manure and digital solutions. In 2023 we also celebrated an annual production record of the 5.000th Lely Astronaut, launched new generations of Juno and Discovery Collector and won several global awards for our latest innovations Lely Sphere and Lely Exos. Combined with high farmer satisfaction scores and increasing demand for sustainable dairy products we see a bright future for Lely.

Outlook for 2024

2024 promises to be more challenging due to earlier mentioned farmer challenges such as low milk prices, high interest rates and political unrest. However, the long-term outlook for robotics and data management remains very bright. We also look forward to launching our new strategy 2025-2030 in 2024, as well as making steps in a number of new exciting propositions in line with our vision on the Farm of the Future.

*The numbers have not yet been audited and financial statements have not yet been prepared.

For more information, please contact Eveline van Wijmen, Sr. Communications Specialist Lely
evanwijmen@lely.com, +31 (0) 6 51 94 47 4