Metso reports drop in aggregates equipment sales in 2023

Finland-based Metso Corp., a provider of equipment and technology for the aggregates, minerals processing and metals refining industries, has reported earnings per share (EPS) of about 72 cents for 2023, increasing by more than 80 percent its 2022 EPS of about 39 cents in 2022.

The company says its aggregates business unit, which provides crushing, screening, conveying and replacement parts equipment to the concrete recycling sector, accounted for slightly more than 24 percent of its revenue in 2023.

Revenue in Metso’s aggregates sector dropped by 7 percent in 2023 compared with the prior year, the firm reports, but the business unit raised both its adjusted earnings before interest, taxes and amortization (EBITA) and operating profit margins by 9 percent.

For all of 2023, Metso says it received $1.39 billion in new aggregates sector orders, with the firm citing “weaker market activity.” That figure represents a 14 percent drop compared with the more than $1.6 billion it received in 2022.

While Metso did not break out its global aggregates equipment sales by region, other makers of construction and recycling equipment have cited North America as their strongest market in 2023, while markets in Europe and Asia lagged.

Additionally, the company says its aggregates orders backlog value of $495 million was 19 percent lower at the end of 2023 compared with the end of the prior year.

In a 52-page document accompanying its 2023 year-end financials, Metso cites “solutions that help address climate change and offer other sustainability benefits” and “digitalization [that] brings new opportunities for equipment optimization” as increasing in prominence in the aggregates industry.

Metso points to its Lokotrack product line, which it says will expand this year, as equipment that ties into both of those emerging priorities.

“In 2023, we announced that we will launch the first units of our new electrically driven ‘Our Year 2023’ track-mounted, modular Lokotrack EC range crushers and screens in May 2024,” writes Metso. “This will support our aggregates customers in their sustainability ambitions by lowering their operating costs and providing them with better access to renewable energy sources.”