With the German economy barely moving beyond stagnation in 2025, following two previous years of recession, the HERMA Group once again benefited from the stabilising effect of its export strength. The company, which specialises in packaging and labelling technology, was able to limit the decline in total sales to 1.2 percent thanks to a further 0.5 percent increase in international sales and a resulting export ratio of 65.8 percent, up from 64.6 percent in the previous year. Following sales of €452.6 million in 2024, HERMA generated Group sales of €447.0 million in the year under review. Domestic sales declined by 4.4 percent. “Once again, it became clear that we have set the right priorities with our HERMA 2030 strategy, even against the backdrop of a weak economic environment. Diversification and the internationalisation of our activities remain key pillars,” emphasise the two managing directors, Dr Guido Spachtholz and Oguzhan Celil. “Our broad positioning across multiple stages of the technology chain also proved to be a stabilising factor in a difficult market year. As a result, two of our three divisions were able to achieve growth.” For 2026, the two managing directors are aiming for sales growth in the low single-digit percentage range, amid challenging market conditions and sustained competitive pressure. Earnings performance is therefore expected to remain under pressure. However, the company believes it is well prepared thanks to its positioning and ongoing efficiency measures. The number of employees rose again in 2025, from 1,065 in the previous year to 1,107 as of 31 December. The number of apprentices also increased, from 61 to 68. “Maintaining our commitment to training, even in the face of economic headwinds, remains our most important strategy for countering the shortage of skilled labour,” the managing directors state.
Labelling Machines records significant growth
HERMA’s three divisions – Self-adhesive Materials, Labels and Labelling Machines – developed differently in 2025, thereby balancing each other out. The Self-adhesive Materials division, the Group’s largest business area, faced growing competitive pressure in the European market as well as additional competition from suppliers in the Far East, resulting in continuous price erosion. This led to a 3.7 percent decline in sales. In the Labels division, the traditional industrial business had to hold its ground amid further weakening domestic demand. This was achieved in particular through gains in the logistics and chemicals segments. In labels for office supplies, the economic trend towards lower volumes continued, mainly due to consumer restraint, the ongoing effects of home and mobile working, and the continued digitalisation of processes that were previously paper-based. Nevertheless, HERMA increased sales in the school supplies business, with drugstores and with online retailers. Overall, this resulted in a slight increase of 0.3 percent for the Labels division. The Labelling Machines division once again bucked the continuing downward trend in Germany’s mechanical engineering industry. While the industry as a whole had to absorb a real production decline of around 5 percent in the year under review, HERMA grew sales in this division by 8.5 percent. Having systematically opened up new, stable market segments in previous years, HERMA’s rapidly established strong position in these areas now enabled a further significant rise in sales.
“It once again proved to be a stabilising factor in 2025 that HERMA is active worldwide across the full breadth of its technological expertise and in a large number of highly diverse industries,” explain the two managing directors. “As a result, even concentrated negative market impulses do not have the same impact on our business performance. In any case, we are entering the equally challenging current financial year 2026 in unchanged good shape and therefore with optimism, while maintaining our objective of profitable growth.”
