HELLA looks back at a challenging fiscal year 2025

Progress in the year ended for the construction industry and its suppliers was substantially determined by a muted market, which is just beginning to pick up again, slowly, after two years in the doldrums. Sales revenue at HELLA, however, was also affected by far-reaching business decisions. The manufacture of products for customer segments with low margins was ended as part of a move to streamline material factors and the overall range. The now-discontinued operations at the Duisburg production site still contributed around 20 million euros to total sales revenue in 2024. This subdivision comprised system products, components and top-mounted boxes for the international plastic window industry.

"There was not really any alternative to the big decisions made in 2025, which came as a logical consequence of the strategic development of our organisation. "The lowest sales revenue figure in the company's recent history is the price that has to be paid to facilitate new growth in the future," explains Andreas Kraler, Managing Partner of the HELLA Group. The compensatory effect from other sales channels, target groups and products has already started to become apparent, but is only partially captured in the current figures. Fiscal year 2025 served as an essential transitional year of consolidation.

HELLA is committing to investments in production and infrastructure despite the current market situation. Key pillars of this strategy include a focus on the Outdoor Living growth market, which market forecasts suggest very much merits such priority status: while conditions are expected to remain challenging for the construction industry, the market for products that create additional living space outdoors is predicted to grow by between 4 and 13 percent (IMARC study and Market Growth Reports). HELLA is strategically positioning itself as a premium manufacturer in this growth segment. Symbolic of the innovation taking place in this area is a new generation of slat roof, which will be made public for the first time at a launch event in Stuttgart this coming April. A modular solution specifically designed to be long-lasting and easy to repair, it also provides additional functionality including integral glass or photovoltaic elements.

The move to continuous production at the Werne site in Germany represents an important milestone in the current operational enhancement process. This type of industrial manufacturing greatly reduces throughput times and enables new employees to be brought up to speed much more quickly. HELLA established the conditions necessary for this change in December 2025 with the leasing of additional production halls. The company invested around one million euros here and has increased the production and logistics area by almost 35 percent. Implemented while operations were ongoing, the reorganisation has not only secured additional capacity for terrace roofs and vertical awnings, but also improved logistics arrangements, enabling significantly faster dispatch.

HELLA is committed to further reducing its environmental impact. The company's headquarters site in Abfaltersbach in Austria's East Tyrol region, for example, already generates more energy than it uses. HELLA intends to invest in its energy infrastructure once again in 2026 to ensure its principal facility can continue to meet most of its energy needs autonomously. The Geislingen site in Germany is in line for further investment too. Here, the sun protection specialist is investing around 1.5 million euros in roof modernisation and energy efficiency. A new photovoltaic system will enable the site to generate more than a third of the energy it requires for itself in future. The company is steadily rolling the "Save energy, generate energy, store energy" principle initially defined at headquarters out to its other sites. The most recent measures continuing this process underline HELLA's firm commitment to the initiative.

HELLA is introducing innovative products, expanding its capacity and optimizing its energy management in pursuit of its clear objective of driving sales revenue back up above the 200 million euro mark within the next two years. "The clear objective of bringing sales revenue back up to the levels seen in 2022 and 2023, our strongest years, has been set. New growth is essential to support the company's structures in the long term and enable it to maintain its leading position in terms of innovation and market share in the face of international competition," says Kraler in summary.