STARK Group delivers stable net sales and underlying earnings in a historically challenging market

Despite increased market shares across all markets, growth was slowed down by a European market that struggled to get back on track. With a slowdown in Germany’s economy and construction sector, several years of decline in European construction have ended up being the deepest and most prolonged downturn since the 1990s.

STARK Group maintained its underlying operating margin and delivered an adjusted EBITDA of EUR 369 mill. Transformation costs of EUR 81 mill., especially relating to the company’s recent major acquisitions in the UK and its digital transformation, affected reported EBITDA, which ended at EUR 288 mill.

Group CEO Søren P. Olesen comments:

“In a normal year, we would not be satisfied with our financial performance. We must be able to grow under all market conditions, but developments in Germany have triggered a historic downturn in European construction — one not seen in 30 years. We have gained market share in all markets and have continued our accelerated efforts to make the company bigger and better. I am happy to say that we have succeeded in these endeavours. As markets return from negative growth rates, we also need to deliver growth and improved profitability.”

EURm	2024/25	Dev.	2023/24	2022/23	2021/22
Net sales	7,760	-0.3%	7,780	7,054	5,995
Gross profit	2,036	-0.2%	2,041	1,811	1,541
Adj. EBITDA	369	-0.8%	372	456	479
EBITDA	288	-11.7%	326	391	459
Gross margin	26.2%	0pp	26.2%	25.7%	25.7%
Adj. EBITDA margin	4.8%	0pp	4.8%	6.5%	8.0%
EBITDA margin	3.7%	-0.5pp	4.2%	5.5%	7.7%

Adjusted EBITDA is defined as EBITDA excluding non-recurring items of a material and extraordinary nature.

The Nordics continued to deliver growth in net sales and EBITDA – German market moved into reverse

In its strongest and most mature market, the Nordics, STARK Group grew its market share, net sales and EBITDA.

Meanwhile, the German economy and construction sector moved into reverse. Overall, the level of activity in the German market has fallen by 25% since 2019, the most recent normal year. Despite market share gains, STARK Deutschland & Austria recorded a decline in net sales and EBITDA for the second consecutive year.

In the UK, STARK Group became the second-largest distributor of building materials in March 2023 following the acquisition of STARK UK, which made STARK Group one and a half times larger in terms of net sales. The British company is now two years into a turnaround, investing in consolidating and improving its branches into larger units, optimising its distribution capabilities and expanding its product range for professional tradespeople. On a like-for-like basis, STARK UK grew its market share, net sales and EBITDA in the financial year.

“The markets are testing our strategy and resilience. As a company, we are doing well and gaining market shares, but we are witnessing a sluggish recovery of construction in several markets. Our strength has been that we are geographically diversified and have been able to win market shares, no matter how quickly the markets have turned.”

“We have the strength to invest in making our business bigger and better, and we will continue along that track. The core of our strategy is to achieve a strong European leadership position by building, country by country, the market’s leading and largest distributors of heavy building materials. We have succeeded in these endeavours in the past few years. The past year has made us even more ready for growth,” says Søren P. Olesen.

Negative net earnings – strong free cash flow

STARK Group improved its free cash flow by EUR 81 mill. to EUR 140 mill.

Net earnings were a loss of EUR 286 mill. The result was affected by depreciation, amortisation and interest expenses.