Investors

Glaston sets medium-term strategic targets

Glaston’s Board of Directors has approved adjusted net sales and comparable return on capital employed (ROCE) targets and an extended target period for the strategic targets.

Since the previous strategy update in August 2021, there have been significant changes in the global economy and Glaston’s addressable markets started to soften in 2023. Due to these changes, the time for reaching the strategic targets has been modified to reflect the current expectations. Glaston has adjusted the timeframe for achieving the strategic targets from 2025 to the medium-term (3−5 years) except for the emissions reduction targets with a timeframe up to 2032.

Glaston has also slightly updated the net sales target and expects the annual average growth to exceed the addressable equipment markets’ growth. The updated target for comparable return on capital employed (ROCE) is above 16%. The target for the comparable operating margin (EBITA) of 10% remains unchanged.

Glaston estimates that in 2024, the Architectural markets declined in EMEA and China, while the rest of APAC and Americas performed slightly better. The mobility market grew strongly in China and declined elsewhere.

Glaston’s medium-term (3-5 years) strategic targets:

• Annual average net sales growth (CAGR) exceeding the addressable equipment markets growth
• Comparable operating margin (EBITA) of 10%
• Comparable return on capital employed (ROCE) of above 16%
• Customer satisfaction score (Net Promoter Score, NPS) above 40.
• Group-wide zero lost time accidents target, progress measured by lost time accidents per million working hours (LTIFR)
• Employee Engagement target above 75 (out of 100)
• GHG emissions reduction targets:
  • Reduce absolute scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions by 50.4% by 2032, compared to the 2022 base year (1,491 tCO₂e)
  • Reduce the scope 3 GHG emissions by 58.1% per square meter of sold machine processing capacity by FY2032 (emission intensity). Base year 2022: 0.00043 tCO₂/m²

CEO Toni Laaksonen in the Financial Statements Bulletin 2024, published on February 24, 2025: 

“Throughout 2024, the market environment was challenging. The Architectural market remained soft, and EMEA was particularly affected by the weaker market environment. The Mobility market, in China mainly, developed well, supported by their transition to electric vehicles. The lower construction activity in several regions was reflected in both the order intake and the net sales development. Despite the cautious markets, the steady development in comparable EBITA continued as we started to benefit from the structural cost-saving actions taken earlier in the year.

The fourth-quarter order intake was down 8% to EUR 53.1 million due to weaker order intake in both the Architectural and Mobility, Display & Solar segments, while Service’s order intake was on the same level as in the comparison period. The full-year order intake was also down 8% due to the soft Architectural market.

Net sales for the fourth quarter and the full year decreased. Net sales in the fourth quarter totaled EUR 56.8 (59.7) million, with the Insulating Glass Technologies product area exceeding last year’s levels. For the full year, EUR 217.9 (219.7) million was recorded. Insulating glass and mobility technologies showed positive growth figures.

Comparable fourth-quarter EBITA was slightly behind the comparison period and was EUR 4.2 million (7.5% margin).  Full-year comparable EBITA improved and was EUR 15.3 (14.9) million supported by the gradual turnaround in Mobility, Display and Solar.

To further accelerate strategy execution, we announced a plan for organizational changes in October. The planned changes are now completed, and the year has started under the new organization. Glaston has three Business Functions in the new structure: Market Areas, Solutions & Operations, and Service Supply & Development. With this reorganization, we want to strengthen our resources in the customer interface and increase our investments in service capabilities.

To accelerate profitability development and reach additional operational efficiencies, the optimization of our global operations and supply chain continues. In line with this, the transfer of all pre-processing equipment production from Switzerland to our factory in Tianjin, China, progressed in the final quarter. The transfer is estimated to be completed during the summer period 2025. However, we continue to have sales and service functions in Switzerland to maintain the customer interface and provide service to our customers. In addition to operational efficiencies, we can already see that our strategy to concentrate all Mobility pre-processing production to China has benefitted us in getting more orders locally.

Employee engagement and safety at work are among our mid-term strategic targets. In 2024, our employee engagement improved to 76 from 70 in the previous year and the set target, 75 out of 100, was met. Our group-wide safety target is zero accidents. In 2024, our performance improved slightly and our accident frequency rate LTIFR was 5.7 (6.3). The direction is right, but the numbers show that we need to continue our systematic safety work.

Promoting sustainable development is integral to our business strategy as our technologies enable more energy-efficient and safe glass products. In line with the EU taxonomy, Glaston’s enabling activities that substantially contribute to climate change mitigation had a 46.4 (45.4)% share of total net sales in 2024. These taxonomy aligned activities mainly consist of Insulating Glass Technologies and related services.

2024 was another busy year for the company and I want to thank the Glaston team for their contribution throughout the year. I also want to thank our customers, shareholders and other stakeholders for their continuous trust and support.

In 2025, we do not expect a major turnaround in the Architectural market. In the Mobility market, we expect the positive development to continue driven by China. Innovations for improved process efficiency and sustainability, such as new energy-efficient solutions or the light-weight thin triple insulating glass processing lines, are of interest to our customers and provide growth opportunities even in the current market situation. On this basis, we expect net sales to remain at the same level and comparable EBITA to stay at the same level or increase slightly in 2025 compared to 2024.”

In 2025, the glass processing equipment markets are expected to remain soft. The architectural market does not show signs of significant recovery for this year. For mobility glass processing equipment, the market activity in China is expected to remain good with high volatility in the short-term. Amid global economic uncertainty and continued geopolitical tensions, high uncertainty exists concerning customers’ decision-making.

Given the cautious market environment, the company’s growth opportunities arise from new product innovations, services, and upgrade products. Implemented and on-going structural cost-saving actions support profitability. Glaston Corporation estimates that its net sales will remain at the same level and comparable EBITA will stay at the same level or increase slightly in 2025 from the levels reported for 2024. In 2024, Group net sales totaled EUR 217.9 million and comparable EBITA was EUR 15.3 million.

Glaston Corporation develops, manufactures, sells and services glass processing machines, equipment, upgrades and technology to glass processors in the architectural, solar and mobility industries.

Glaston’s operations are divided into three Business Functions: Market Areas, Solutions & Operations and Service Supply & Development.   

Market Areas

Market Areas are the main customer interface in the Americas, EMEA and APAC. Market Areas will cover in close collaboration with the Business Lines machine and services sales, as well as manage regional service operations.

Solutions & Operations

Solutions & Operations is responsible for all Business Line-related machine and service product portfolios. The Business Function has three Business Lines: Tempering & Laminating, Insulating Glass and Mobility.

Glaston offers a wide and technically advanced range of glass heat treatment machinery, services, upgrades and modernizations as well as spare parts for flat tempering, and laminating lines.

Glaston is the most known tempering line manufacturer in the market. We differentiate ourselves in the market through industry-leading know-how to provide our customers with the most innovative technology.

Energy efficiency and the need to improve the energy performance of buildings is gaining more importance in the market and drives the demand for insulating glass.

In insulating glass technologies, Glaston offers tailor-made and flexible solutions to meet the most demanding customer needs. We have a more than 25 years experience as a leader in «warm edge» technology and inventor of the TPS® spacer system.

For the Mobility market, Glaston offers pre-processing and heat treatment technologies and these enable cutting and grinding the glass into the correct shape, to bend, temper or bend-temper the glass into its final form used in different applications.

In the mobility industry, the use of glass is increasing in the exterior and the interior and new functionalities and glass types like thin glass increase processing complexity and quality requirements.

More information about our products is available in the Offering section.

Service Supply & Development

Service Supply & Development focuses on global spare parts-related operations and development, including global warehouses and supply chains as well as global service development.

Glaston is a frontrunner in its field, and known in the glass industry for its technology leadership and high quality. Our position is particularly strong in developing technologically demanding products. Glaston carries out product development in close cooperation with its customers and partners, such as research institutes, universities and other higher education institutions.

The most advanced glass processing machines developed by Glaston have risen to the status of standards in many countries. We hold patents for all of our key solutions.

The main themes of our product development are projects and innovations related to glass processing and robotics that facilitate the transition towards fully automated glass processing.

One of our latest innovations is the tempering process Autopilot, which is based on the same solutions that are used in autonomous passenger cars. Autopilot presages a huge change for the entire glass processing industry, as it minimizes the need for machine operator input and offers process control without parameters.

In 2024, development of new features for existing machines to enable the production of new products and to increase productivity, continued. Also, the development of new retrofit solutions for improved performance for existing machines continued.

Features for online quality monitoring during the production process were also one of the key focus areas in product development.

In 2024, research and product development expenditure amounted to 4.7 (4.2)% of net sales.

More information about our major technology innovations here.