Warm welcome to the CEO, Sebastian Roll, and CFO, Jan-Henrik Pollitt, who will start with the presentation shortly. After the presentation, we will move forward with a Q&A session. With this, let's start. Sebastian Roll, the stage is yours.
T hank you. Good afternoon from Berlin, and thank you for the kind introduction, and also a warm welcome for sure from us. My name is Sebastian Roll, and I'm the CEO of Aumann. Together with me is my colleague, Jan-Henrik Pollitt, who is our CFO. I'm pleased that you are interested in Aumann and attending our earnings call today. In the upcoming presentation, we would like to give a brief overview of Aumann and our financial performance 2023.
Honestly, we are very proud of these numbers. Let's refresh quickly. What sets Aumann apart? As you know, we are transforming the automotive industry with our technology. In our core business, we deliver fully automated production lines for all key components of the electromobility. All international players procure their production lines from Aumann.
The who is who of the automotive industry, and all of them are transforming their business towards e-mobility. As a result, we have seen an average growth of 27% over the years. So on this slide, you can get an idea of our transformation. So over the years, Aumann has developed into a full-range supplier for e-mobility. Here, you can see the drivetrain of a fully electric car, and apart from the tires, all components can be manufactured on Aumann production lines.
Of course, this requires a colorful mix of competencies. Therefore, we are pleased that we have expanded our technology portfolio with the acquisition of LACOM in the end of last year. This means that in addition to our core competencies, such as assembly, winding, and automation, we are now also able to offer coating solutions.
So from the very beginning, as you know, we placed a clear focus on the e-drive unit. For over 170 years, the operation of an e-motor, honestly speaking, has remained unchanged. However, each of our customers follows very different approaches in development. As a turnkey supplier, Aumann provides all the latest production solutions for stators and rotors. In addition, Aumann has developed, especially last year, its own modular production system, perfectly suited for inverters, a business that has brought us satisfaction also last year. Let us now turn to our battery portfolio.
Our rapid growth is mainly driven by our successful position in the area of battery systems. As a pioneer in technology, Aumann offers the complete range of battery modules, battery packs, and even cell-to-X solutions. With our new converting technology, we are now able to upstream our business and enter into the electrode manufacturing.
Also in the field of fuel cells, the new acquisition fits perfectly into our existing Aumann technology portfolio. Aumann is now able to offer cutting-edge production solutions from coating and stacking all the way to final assembly. As a result, Aumann can provide tailor-made solutions across the entire value chain. Let's investigate the outlook for electromobility.
As you are well aware, all important market factors are still rapidly developing. Also last year, the EV sales figures of our customers have risen significantly despite all the challenging general conditions. Nevertheless, the market share of electric vehicles is only at 20%. This shows how much traditional production capacity still needs to be converted into electromobility. So now I would like to hand over to Jan for the financials.
Yeah, thank you very much, Sebastian, and also a warm welcome from my side. We are very happy to now share with you the key figures of the 2023 financial year. I can already reveal that our strong technological position goes hand in hand with strong financial figures. The highlights on this slide illustrate our dynamic performance and successful development in 2023.
Our revenue increased by 34.5% year-over-year to EUR 289.6 million. At the same time, EBITDA has grown to EUR 20.6 million. The EBITDA margin increased by 3 percentage points to now 7.1%. There's more to come in 2024. Order intake reached with EUR 339.4 million, a new all-time high. This means we exceeded the previous year's strong level by 14.9%. More importantly, at a very satisfactory price level.
As a result, our order backlog is up 18.2% on the previous year, now amounts to EUR 303.2 million and forms the basis for further growth in 2024. To process the high order backlog, also the number of employees increased to 951, which is a plus of 16% year-over-year. With a liquidity position of EUR 143.8 million, Aumann continues to have a very strong financial position and is excellently positioned for further profitable growth.
Let us now jump into a few details. A quarterly review shows that both revenue and profitability have picked up dynamically over the course of the year. Based on the good order backlog at the beginning of the year and the high market demand, quarterly sales rose from EUR 55.7 million in Q1 to EUR 89.9 million in Q4. The picture is the same for EBITDA.
The increasing processing of the lower margin portion of the order backlog reduced the dilutive effect on margins, which led to a continuous increase from 6.2% EBITDA margin in Q1 to 7.9% in Q4. Switching to the full-year perspective now, we reached in 2023 a revenue of EUR 289.6 million, which represents an increase of almost 35%. With EUR 229.1 million, the e-mobility segment is the main driver of our strong growth.
Compared to the previous year, also our profitability increased significantly. EBITDA more than doubled in absolute numbers from EUR 8.7 million to EUR 20.6 million. The EBITDA margin increased from 4.1% to 7.1%. This trend will continue in 2024 because our order backlog margin is significantly higher than the earnings situation in 2023.
Overall, we are proud of the fact that we were able to exceed not only the original guidance, but also the most recently raised guidance in both performance indicators, revenue, and earnings. As already announced as part of the highlights, order intake in 2023 exceeded the previous year's strong figure by 14.9% and reached EUR 339.4 million, which is a new all-time high. With more than 80%, the main share of our order intake was acquired in the e-mobility segment.
As a result, the order backlog remains very strong over the EUR 300 million mark. At the same time, the last lower margin orders were completed in 2023, and higher price realization in order intake was achieved against the backdrop of the strong market demand. As already said, the order backlog margin is significantly higher compared to the previous year. Now let me show you both statements in detail.
Let's start with the e-mobility segment. Order intake of EUR 274.2 million in the financial year 2023 is 19% over the previous year. And this, as I said, at a very good margin level. The success of this segment is obvious. Order backlog plus 18% to EUR 241.6 million. Revenue plus 61% to EUR 229.1 million. And EBITDA plus EUR 5.8 million to EUR 17.1 million. This means a 7.5% EBITDA margin. As you can see easily from these numbers, further growth in this segment is already in our books.
And so is further margin development. In summary, the e-mobility market remains very strong. Let's continue with our classic segment. As you know, we operate this segment opportunistically with a business mix of automotive, general industry, and renewables. And due to the high demand in e-mobility, we, of course, allocate most of our capacity there.
Overall, the segment is at previous year's level with slightly lower revenue in 2023, but at the same absolute EBITDA and a higher order backlog at the end of the year 2023. In total, the Classic segment continues to be a secure second pillar for our business. Before we come to our balance sheet, I would like to give you a short idea of our group cash flow in 2023. Cash flow from operating activities is very strong at plus EUR 41.9 million.
Approximately half of the operating cash flow comes from earnings, and the other half comes from a reduction of working capital. Cash flow from investing activities includes EUR 10.6 million investments in securities, and cash flow from financing activities includes EUR 8.9 million of share buyback in 2023. In total, cash at year-end is at a very high level of almost EUR 144 million.
By the end of 2023, our balance sheet remains absolutely solid with an equity ratio of 53.7% and EUR 135 million net cash. The liquidity position and the positive revenue and earnings development put us in a position to allow our shareholders to participate in the business development through a dividend payment, and we will propose to the AGM a dividend of EUR 0.20 per share. Additionally, the current share buyback program with a maximum volume of EUR 8 million up to a price of EUR 20 per share is ongoing.
Ongoing is also our growth journey. For 2024, based on the excellent order backlog, we expect further revenue growth to more than EUR 320 million. At the same time, the stronger margins in the order book will further materialize in our results. Against this background, we expect an EBITDA margin of 9% to 11% in 2024. Let me now hand over to Sebastian again.
Thank you, Jan. So let's summarize our presentation. So we can look back with pride and great satisfaction on a successful financial year 2023. New all-time highs in order intake and liquidity. Revenue increased by more than 34%. Meanwhile, the EBITDA has more than doubled to roughly EUR 21 million. So in summary, we raised our guidance during the year and exceeded it. So based on our excellent order backlog and our solid financials, we are well prepared for the growth also in 2024. So thank you very much for your attention, and we are happy now to answer all your questions.
Yeah, thank you so much for the insightful presentation, Sebastian Roll and Jan-Henrik Pollitt, as said. We're now moving to the Q&A session. To keep the conversation engaging, I kindly ask you to pose your question via the audio line. Simply click the "Raise Your Hand" button. If you're dialed in via phone, you can use the key combination star nine followed by star six. If you can't speak freely today, you can also use the chat to pose a question. We have a first question from Mr. Glowa. You should be able to speak now. Thank you so much for your question.
Hi there. Christian speaking. Can you hear me all right?
Yeah.
Hi, gentlemen. First of all, congratulations. Great results. I do have a couple of questions. Let's do them one on one. My first one would be on your order intake in your Classic segment in Q4, which was up double, basically, year-over-year and also quarter-over-quarter. And also your margin in Q4 in Classic was quite high, 12% EBIT margin. Can you talk a bit about what is behind that steep increase in order intake in Classic? Is it coming from automotive or non-automotive? And also what has basically driven the margin development in Q4?
Yeah, I mean, as you know, it's a kind of cherry-picking, especially it's opportunity business in the classic business. So from time to time, we have some repeater machines there or we have some relocations of older machines or kind of retrofit and all these things. So in Q4, for example, you also have to have in mind that, as I said, we have now Lauchheim acquired, Aumann Lauchheim. And also there, we had some new order intakes, which remains to classic.
Okay. And with regard to your guidance on the EBITDA margin for 2024, 9% to 11%, can you talk a bit about what needs to happen to achieve the lower and the upper end? I assume it depends on the execution, basically, of the projects. In that regard, can you also speak a little bit about your current capacity utilization, how you look about potentially increasing third-party services in 2024 to execute your backlog?
Yeah, I mean, maybe starting, first of all, with the capacity. I mean, we are coming from a year where we have increased our revenues by 35%. Now, in the new guidance, it is an increase of; it's a double-digit increase, a little bit more than 10%. So that means that capacity-wise, we are totally okay for this year and also for the order backlog.
And as Jan said, I mean, within the order backlog, we have a really nice margin situation. So I mean, maybe in general, I mean, taking 2023, I think even having a look now on the share price right now, I think we have really moved the entire Aumann Group forward significantly. And part of this, I think, is reflected in the annual financial statements, which we have seen right now.
The other part, for sure, will be evident in 2024 because of our order backlog. I think maybe due to this, the guidance in the EBITDA is maybe a little bit conservative. I mean, given the order backlog, but I mean, so far, we have done well, I think, in meeting our or even exceeding our targets.
Yeah, absolutely. That's very clear. Thank you. Then my last question would be, please, on the breakdown of your order intake in e-mobility into electronics, drive units, and battery packaging, and how you look at the pipeline for 2024, which of these segments is going to be your main driver, and potentially about also new customers in that regard. Any comment would be appreciated.
Yeah, Jan, please.
Yeah, the current portion of EDU and battery is like the whole e-mobility segment with its order intake is at least 50% allocated to the battery business, which went very well during the last years. So the larger portion is battery business. The big smaller portion, like 30%-35% of e-mobility order intake, is EDU. And within the EDU area, especially as Sebastian described in the presentation, the inverter business has really picked up during the last years where we saw big orders based on our modular production system. And yeah, this has a very high demand on the inverter side.
Got to the pipeline of orders. Anything that excites you potentially with regard to order intake once in 2024?
Well, I mean, what we see in the pipeline is nearly the same picture. It is still a very domestic part of battery and EDU.
All right. Thank you very much.
Thank you, Christian.
Thank you so much, Mr. Glowa. This is a reminder for all of you also to pose a question via the audio line. You can also do that with the key combination star nine and star six or through the chat. And we got another question in the chat. I think we previously touched on it, but what are you currently focusing on most in terms of M&A?
M&A is part of our DNA, part of our strategy. For sure, we are still focusing North America.
Thank you so much. Mr. Glowa has raised his hand again, so I'm going to.
Yeah.
Sorry, that was a mistake.
Okay, no worries. Thank you so much. Yeah, we're going to wait a couple more seconds to see if more questions are coming in. And yeah, as no further questions have come in, thank you so much for this wonderful presentation, Sebastian Roll. Oh, no, we have another question. This is amazing. So there's a question in the chat. If you are able to increase your order intake backlog compared to 2023 for the year 2024?
What we believe is that the e-mobility market remains a growing market. So that means that we also and that's something we have shown in our presentation, that the demand for production solutions will continue to increase. So for example, last quarter, the last quarter was more than EUR 90 million. And what I can say with 2024 is that we really had a positive start also in 2024. And I think we can give a look and say that for the Q1 , we expect, again, a positive book-to-bill ratio for more than one. So means more order intake than revenues and having in mind that the revenues are also increasing in the Q1 in comparison to last year.
Thank you so much. We have two other questions. How is the general downward trend in electric vehicle pricing affecting you?
It's general, so we see in the market multiple trends. So we see, on the one hand, a very much development on the e-mobility components at OEM side and also at tier one side, which is generally good for us because everybody is working on new product designs and need to make sure that these product designs can be manufactured in mass production in the end.
Therefore, customers need not only additional production lines to increase the production capacity, but also new production lines for new products, which are being developed. And the same thing is with the downward price effect for EVs. The OEMs and tier ones are focusing on reducing the product prices. And therefore, they try to focus on solutions where they can save material costs.
This means that there will be, in the end, new production lines again needed for the production of these new products. For example, our cell-to-pack business, which we presented on the battery slide, is exactly what is described here. The customer tries to save product costs and needs, yeah, a more sophisticated production line in the end. We are the development partner for such lines.
Thank you so much for this answer. We have another question. If the electric engines are also used in bicycles and motorbikes, and as well as if China is a potential market, Aumann would be interested in the actual sales volume over there.
Maybe starting with the bicycle, with the e-bikes, for sure. I mean, there is an important German tier one also producing bicycle e-motors. And for sure, he is our customer. Concerning China, I mean, right now in China, we have a situation that the market in general is very much price-driven, unfortunately. But due to our small footprint, we are independent from this development right now. And we have an eye on this. But right now, for these kind of prices, it is not really interesting for us to step in more aggressively.
Thank you so much for this answer. We have the last question for today. How do you feel about the establishment of Northvolt in Germany? Would they be an interesting client?
You will understand that we are not allowed to discuss individual customers or potential customers. But of course, it is our ambition always to be in talks with all these leading players. And for sure, I mean, the acquisition of LACOM was in the direction to enter into these kind of cell production solutions on the one hand. And on the other hand, for sure, companies as Northvolt also try to have the own modules or maybe the own battery packs step by step, which is also interesting for us. Yeah, so we are quite happy that we have these kind of new clients in the market as well.
Yeah, thank you so much, Sebastian Roll, for this answer. And also to you, Jan-Henrik Pollitt. We're now coming to the end of today's earnings call. Should any questions arise in the future, please feel free to contact us or the investor relations team. And with this, on behalf of Montega, I wish you a beautiful day. Enjoy your week. And I'm giving the word now to Sebastian Roll for some final remarks. Thank you so much.
Thank you. So to sum up, we are satisfied with the financial year 2023. I think we have set new records. We acquired a company, and we exceeded our targets. And for sure, this is also our aim for 2024. And moreover, the order backlog, as mentioned several times, is making us confident that there's even more to come from Aumann in 2024. So thank you very much for your interest. And yeah, have a nice K-week.