→ Revenue growth in a turbulent market environment
→ Profitability stabilizes at low level
→ Cautiously optimistic outlook for 2026
Thanks to innovations and a focus on strategic industrial markets, SICK, the international supplier of sensor-based automated solutions with head office in Germany, was able to moderately increases its sales during the 2025 fiscal year. In a turbulent market environment, SICK was able to consolidate its position and gain market shares with sensor solutions. Profitability remains at a low level.
The year 2025 was characterized by many challenges and uncertainties from an economic and geopolitical perspective. This impacted the business results for the year. Besides a sustained market weakness, the business performance of the SICK Group was impacted significantly by unfavorable exchange rates, the global trade policy developments, and increasing competition and price pressures, in particular from China.
Growth in business despite challenging market environment
SICK's sales for the 2025 fiscal year grew moderately to EUR 1,850 million despite the challenging market environment. This corresponds to a change of +6.5 percent compared to the previous year. Currency effects had a negative impact on this: assuming the same average exchange rate as in the previous year, the sales revenue would have increased by 9.3 percent. Earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) dropped slightly by 0.5 percent to EUR 54.7 million, the EBIT margin was 3.0 percent.
In Asia Pacific, SICK was able to increase its sales in the two-figure percentage range, in particular in China. Growth in the EMEA and Americas regions was significantly lower at around four and under three percent respectively. The strong growth in the home market Germany was driven by one-off special effects.
Profitability stabilized thanks to cost discipline and innovative strength
Dr. Mats Gökstorp, Chairman of the Executive Board of SICK AG: “Faced with the ongoing challenging macroeconomic conditions and uncertainties in many markets, we were able to grow our sales within the expected range in 2025. We are nevertheless not fully satisfied with the result in our overall assessment because the sales and orders received were below the previous year's level despite a persistent growth trend. Our ongoing high investment and expenditures in research and development provide a good foundation for further expanding our business activities and the future growth of the Group. At the same time, we need to adapt our internal structures to the new market circumstances. Our focus here will be on the too high cost level in Germany.”
Jan-H. Eberhardt, CFO at SICK AG: “SICK has a solid balance sheet structure. We intend to continue to finance our strategic innovations internally to exploit growth opportunities. We were able to stabilize our earnings during the 2025 fiscal year through a systematic optimization of our internal structures and by maintaining cost discipline. Further improving our earning capacity is an important goal to be successful as an independent family business.”
Number of employees remains stable
As at the reporting date December 12, 2025, the SICK Group employed 10,158 staff and thus 0.2 percent fewer than in the previous year. Research and development continued to play an important role in 2025 for the innovative strength of the company and contributed significantly to the implementation of new product ideas.
Cautiously optimistic outlook for 2026
“For the year 2026 we are expecting ongoing uncertainty such as geopolitical tensions and trade policy risks through permanently high tariff levels, which we will counter with our continued measures to improve profitability and a high market presence. The economic consequences of the war in the Middle East are not foreseeable at the present. Sharply increasing energy prices and interrupted supply chains dampen our expectations,” says SICK’s Chairman of the Executive Board, Dr. Mats Gökstorp. “With intelligent sensor solutions and a clear focus on automation, logistics and industrial AI, SICK is setting its sights on achieving profitable growth in the year 2026. A combination of clear strategy, consistent focus and increased performance will be the key levers for securing our competitiveness, expanding our market shares, and sustainably future-proofing our company,” adds Gökstorp.
For detailed balance sheet information and details of the sustainability goals of SICK AG, see the Business and Sustainability Report 2025: https://www.sick.com/performance
About SICK:
SICK is one of the world’s leading solutions providers for sensor-based applications in the industrial sector. Founded in 1946 by Dr.-Ing. e. h. Erwin Sick and headquartered in Waldkirch im Breisgau near Freiburg, the company is a technology and market leader with 63 subsidiaries and affiliates as well as numerous agencies around the globe. SICK has more than 10,000 employees worldwide and generated a group revenue of EUR 1.8 billion in the 2025 fiscal year. Further information on SICK is available on the Internet at www.sick.com.