Metso's 2023 annual report has revealed a big rise in 'Planet Positive'- linked sales.
The Finnish quarrying and mining equipment major's Planet Positive-related sales were worth €1.447 billion in 2023, up from €1.225 billion in 2022. Metso's Planet Positive initiative helps customers cut their CO2 emissions and achieve their other sustainability priorities, such as reducing pollution.
The Planet Positive portfolio already includes over 100 Metso products, and the company aims to have a Planet Positive product for every part of a customer's value chain. To achieve this, all Metso's R&D projects must have sustainability benefits, with a target of 80% of R&D spending on Planet Positive product and service offering development by 2030.
In Metso's 2023 annual report, company president and CEO Pekka Vauramo highlights that sustainability is vital for Metso and the company's industries. "By far, the biggest impact of our sustainability actions materialises in our customers' operations. Metso is committed to the 1.5-degree climate target, and our goal is that our Planet Positive sales—an offering that has proven sustainability benefits—grow faster than our overall sales. In 2023, our Planet Positive sales grew by 18%.
"We measure the CO2 emissions of our operations, and our target is to become net-zero by 2030. Last year, we reached a 73% reduction level in our emissions compared to the baseline of 2019. Similarly, we aim to reduce our logistics CO2 emissions by 20% by 2025, and at the end of 2023, the result was -7%. We have also set a target for our spending from direct suppliers that have set science-based emissions targets to reach 30% by 2025, and at the end of 2023, the share was just over 26%."
Metso's overall sales of €5.39 billion were up notably from €4.97 billion in 2022. The company's Adjusted EBITA stood at €887 million, compared to €715 million the previous year. Metso's orders received fell in 2023 to €5.252 billion from €6.623 billion.
Commenting on the full-year 2023 performance in the annual report, Vauramo said: "Year 2023 presented many opportunities for Metso and for our customers. The transformation of our industries towards more sustainable practices took many strides, and we are proud to be at the forefront of driving the change with many of our innovations and a wide portfolio of Planet Positive solutions. I am very satisfied with Metso's performance and want to express my heartfelt gratitude to the whole Metso personnel for their commitment, resilience and strong contribution during 2023.
"We follow the implementation of our strategy through four top priorities – financial performance, sustainability, performance culture and customer success – and I would like to take this opportunity to reflect on the past year and on how we performed in each of them."
Vauramo also notes in the annual report that Metso has over 17,000 employees globally, with the company firmly focused on making them feel engaged and committed to their work.
"I believe that high employee engagement leads to improved customer satisfaction, which leads to better business results. We strive to create a strong performance culture where our people, guided by our values and leadership principles, thrive in their work and are offered opportunities to grow and develop while performing at their best.
"To measure how our people feel, we conduct an employee engagement survey, Our Voice, four times a year. Throughout the past couple of years, we have made commendable progress in this measurement. Our latest eNPS result is 54, which means that over half of our employees are willing to recommend us as a place to work. In a benchmark comparison, we are now among the highest-performing top 10% of companies. In the areas of inclusion, health and well-being, and growth, our result takes us to the top 5%. These results clearly demonstrate the value of the effort we have put into developing our culture.
"Metso has a diverse workforce of over 100 nationalities, and we are committed to becoming a workplace where diversity and inclusion are fostered, promoted, and embedded in our company culture."
Explaining how Metso customers' success is the company's success, Vauramo says: "For us, customer success means designing our business so that we can excel in solving our customers' challenges and offer them opportunities to create more value. We have also made steady progress in this area. Metso's 2023 Net Promoter Score (NPS), which measures the engagement and loyalty of our customers, is on a healthy level.
"Based on our customers' feedback, they value Metso's strong safety culture, high-quality equipment and the technical expertise of our employees. We continue to focus on improving our responsiveness and on-time delivery capabilities."
