Outlook 2024
2023 has been a challenging year due to the economic and market conditions as well as the ongoing transformation of our organisation. In 2024, we will continue to work on the future proofing of our company. On the one hand, the focus will be on the further roll-out of the Vebego brand and the finalisation of the project activities of Designing our Future. We plan to rebrand Hago Zorg and Vebego Facility Services CH. Post-merger projects will also still be ongoing in Germany and the Netherlands. In Belgium, the facility companies will be merged and rebranded. We expect this to be quite a challenge, because of the heterogeneity of the businesses of the current companies: Care, Airport Services and NG2. However, we trust that the teams involved will be able to successfully prepare and manage the merger and integration of processes and procedures. Fortunately, they will be able to build on and use the experience we have gained in other business lines and countries over the past two years.
On the other hand, Vebego is working hard on improving the quality and professionalism of the organisation, using the power of the collective and building a healthy financial climate to allow for future growth. We do so by investing in opportunities to decrease our environmental impact and create a more sustainable and significant social impact. Another priority will be adjusting the size of our governance structures in the Vebego group to ensure a stable and safe working environment.
Based on the continuation of investing time, effort and money in a future-proof Vebego, we expect not to achieve our goal of 4% EBIT in 2024. In the coming year, margins will continue to be under pressure due to expected further collective wage increases, especially in the healthcare and cleaning segments. The overall shortage on the labour market combined with high sickness rates (mainly in the Netherlands) will remain, causing high costs for replacements and care taking. In Germany and Switzerland, tough market conditions within a stagnating economy are forecasted.
However, there are some factors which will lead to a better performance than in 2023. The activities in rebranding and the merger and transformation of companies will require lower investments, as we have reached the final stages of these programmes. We also foresee a significant performance improvement in several companies. This will lead to a higher turnover (due to price increases, new sales and an increase of Vebego’s share in sales at several companies) and improvements in the net result. All in all, we expect an increase in turnover compared to 2023 and a higher overall net result than in 2023.