Pierer Mobility’s Preliminary Figures Make Scary Reading
KTM’s owner, the Pierer Mobility Group, has released its preliminary figures for 2024, revealing a drop in sales, equity, and headcount
In the ongoing saga of Pierer Mobility AG (PMG), the Austrian firm behind KTM, Husqvarna, GasGas, and WP, has released a set of preliminary figures in place of its full 2024 annual report. And to say they make for a sobering read would be generous.
First off, the numbers. Sales are down by a brutal 29 per cent year-on-year, sliding from €2.7 billion in 2023 to €1.9 billion in 2024. Making 2024 not just a wobble, but a full-on highside. Net debt sits at a painful €1.643 billion, while equity has taken a nosedive into negative territory, clocking in at minus €-199 million. Yes, that’s a minus sign.
On the staffing side, PMG has also shed serious headcount, with 874 employees getting the chop in 2024, with another 750 following in just the first quarter of 2025. If you thought it felt quiet in Mattighofen lately, that’s why. And that’s a big part of this sorry tale, so much of Mattighofen is built around the motorcycle factory. If KTM sneezes, Mattighofen gets a serious case of the flu.
Despite its well-reported struggles, KTM still managed to shift a significant number of bikes, with 292,497 units sold in 2024, with 60,000 of those being credited to Bajaj. The trouble is, that’s 21 per cent fewer than in the previous year (2023 saw 372,511 motorcycles sold). Of the global markets, Europe was still KTM’s most favourable playground, with approximately 110,000 units sold, meaning it accounted for 38 per cent of sales. North America was the next best region with 24 per cent of the pie, while India and Indonesia (via KTM’s partner Bajaj) accounted for 21 per cent, with the remaining sales countries accounting for 17 per cent of KTM's business.
And if you were clinging to the idea of e-bikes as Pierer's ace up the sleeve, don't. The company is pulling out of the bicycle business entirely in 2025. Husqvarna and GasGas-branded electric bicycles will be sold off, as KTM focuses on getting back on an even keel. That move really is no surprise, with the electric bicycle industry fairing almost as badly as the electric motorcycle industry in 2024 and 2025.
So what about 2025? Surely this is the bit where the company says, “We’ll reassess later” or “We’re holding off on guidance until things stabilise.” Nope. Pierer instead says it expects another negative operating result in 2025. Why? According to the preliminary PMG report, the blame is being placed on “Difficult macroeconomic conditions, [the] ongoing reorganisation, and [the] gradual ramp-up of production”.
There is a sliver of light at the end of this very dark tunnel, though, and it comes from something called restructuring profit. If Pierer can hit a 30 per cent restructuring quota and secure around €600 million in time (by May 23, 2025, to be exact), it’s banking on a €1.3 billion restructuring profit, which could restore the books to a “high three-digit million” positive equity figure. So basically, a financial Hail Mary with just days left on the clock.
Whether KTM, as we know it, will limp through this mess or not is still up in the air. We’re quietly rooting for it, because let’s face it, the world would be a much duller place without orange bikes doing wheelies.
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Simon (AKA Toad) has been working within the motorcycle industry for more than twelve years, and a member of the motorcyclist family since birth. Growing up around British-built single and twins, it was inevitable that a life on two wheels was on the cards, from a very early age!
