• Group revenue of EUR 341 million
• Chemical company is robustly positioned despite challenging economic conditions
• Internationalization supports long-term growth targets
The Oldenburg-based chemical company BÜFA recorded stable sales results in the 2023 financial year, which was marked by various economic and geopolitical challenges. Overall, the group of companies has reached a pre-Corona level. The family-owned company remains solidly positioned thanks to its broad portfolio and its internationalization strategy.
"The BÜFA Group has generally developed robustly in view of the difficult market environment. We are satisfied with the business result overall, even if, as expected, it was below the top value of 2022," says Commercial Director Ralf Ramke. The consolidated consolidated sales of the BÜFA Group amounted to EUR 341 million, building on the good previous year's 2021.
In the course of 2023, demand was subdued due to the persistently weak market environment, which led to a decline in volumes in individual areas. Sales volumes fell by around 12 percent in the past fiscal year. "Against the backdrop of adverse market conditions, we nevertheless maintained ordinary earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) at an overall good level," Ramke sums up. "At the same time, BÜFA is still very solidly financed. The equity ratio has even risen and stands at around 53 percent of total assets at Group level," Ramke continues.
BÜFA continues to grow despite economic stagnation of the German economy
"By opening up new markets and diversifying our product and service portfolio, we were able to operate successfully in an economically difficult environment, especially for chemical companies, spread risks and exploit growth opportunities," explains Felix Thalmann, Chairman of the Managing Board of the BÜFA Group. For example, we have expanded our composites presence not only in South-Eastern Europe, but now also in Scandinavia," reports Thalmann. BÜFA has thus opened up new segments and can offer customers there access to a comprehensive range of high-quality resins, gelcoats and additional materials.
In addition, cooperation with MacSerien has been expanded in the Cleaning business area. After establishing a strategic partnership in 2022, BÜFA acquired 25 percent of the company's shares in MacSerien last year. The MacSerien Group is represented by two production sites in Sweden and Estonia as well as other sales locations in parts of Scandinavia. The products are mainly used in the areas of car cleaning, water treatment, gastronomy and various industries.
"All in all, we can therefore say that BÜFA is still on a growth course and that we are showing resilience in the crisis," Ralf Ramke sums up. Because: In the last five years, the Oldenburg-based family business has increased its sales and is on track with its long-term goals. Due to the current economic developments, no significant growth is generally expected until the end of the year. "In the industry, there are more displacement tendencies," Ramke gives an outlook. Nevertheless, there are signs that the bottom has been reached and that the industry as a whole is cautiously optimistic.
Sustainability is a key strategic driver
Regardless of the overall economic situation in Germany and Europe, BÜFA is driving forward the topic of sustainability.
Last year, a program was set up to categorize the entire product portfolio and to check how sustainable the individual products are. In addition, the Oldenburg-based chemical company is now also continuously calculating the Carbon Footprint (PCF) product so that it can be gradually made available for the entire portfolio.
In the BÜFA Composite Systems division, a product portfolio has also been developed that offers particularly sustainable product groups for the composites industry. The BÜFA-future® product range includes styrene-reduced and styrene-free products, bio-based raw materials, products with recycled raw materials and solutions for flame-retardant and conductive applications.
A regenerative post-combustion plant will also be installed at the BÜFA Composite Systems site in Rastede. In this process, the process exhaust air is bundled and fed to the regenerative post-combustion plant. In this way, the system generates energy from excess heat in combination with other installations such as heat exchangers. In addition, diffuse heat potentials of the system are contracted via the building fabric and can also be recovered. "Here, BÜFA is setting a standard for the company's sustainability strategy via the required regulation from the Energy Efficiency Act," Thalmann describes.
At the same time, BÜFA continues to invest in young companies that create innovative, sustainable solutions. For this reason, BÜFA has not only invested in the start-up ZukunftMoor, which re-dilutes peatlands in the region and thus significantly reduces CO2 emissions, but has also increased its stake in the start-up Ferr-Tech. The Dutch company has developed a unique process that can be used to produce ferrat(VI) in a stable and ready-to-use form. The environmentally friendly oxidation chemical is used to purify wastewater and enables the reuse of water in industry. In this way, it contributes to a sustainable circular economy.
"Regardless of the economic situation, sustainability is and remains the defining issue when it comes to the future of everyone. That's why we will continue to invest here in the future," says Thalmann, summarizing the importance of sustainability at BÜFA.
