Looking back on the past year

Annual commentary 2024
It was a somewhat quiet start to 2024 at KE Fibertec, and we exceptionally experienced a decline in order intake in the first quarter compared to the previous year. A strong performance in the US market, where we have supplied a number of factories producing batteries for electric cars, among other things, has contributed to a very good result both on the top line and the bottom line. This development should be seen in conjunction with the fact that we have succeeded in further developing our business. We have reached several important milestones in optimising our products and services in line with our strategy to become carbon-neutral at our Danish factories by 2030. For KE Fibertec, 2024 was also a year with several important anniversaries such as the celebration of the 25th anniversary of our weaving mill and the marking of anniversaries for a small handful of employees who alone represent 175 years of employment at the company.

We can highlight the Danish market, where KE Fibertec has seen a positive development in 2024 - not only in terms of revenue, but also with the expansion of new concepts for our Danish customers. By further developing our internal washing and service centre with optimised workflows, we have increased our washing capacity, and we expect to end the year with more than double the number of kilos washed compared to last year. A business area that we lauched a few years ago and that we have great expectations for. We are seeing an ever-increasing interest in the maintenance of textile based systems, and hygiene level documentation in particular has proven to be an important factor for our customers in the food industry. This year alone, we have had more than 10 tons of washing with an antibac treatment, which is an environmentally friendly treatment of textile ducts for hygiene-sensitive environments. Our customers have also generally shown a greater interest in maintenance and how to extend the lifetime of the textile ducts and ensure a better and cleaner indoor climate. KE Fibertec believes that this development will become even more widespread in the future, and we hope to see a shift away from the attitude that you can get  maintenance-free ventilation systems.

At the beginning of the year, we expanded our service concept for Danish customers by acquiring the installation company KE Techmon and can now offer help with various types of installation tasks, primarily textile based solutions. However, it is important to emphasise that we do not compete with our installer customers, but that we work in close collaboration to ensure optimised function and a long service life for the individual ventilation project while providing the end user with a good indoor climate.

In the US market, an acquisition of a local US competitor back in 2021 has proven to be a very sensible investment. Not only when we look back on the year that is almost over, where the US market represents the largest turnover in the KE Group, but also going forward. We are in the process of implementing a common ERP system at our American production company in Wisconsin, and we are convinced that we will be even stronger in the American market considering the recent US presidential election. Here, no one knows the terms of trade between European manufacturers and the US, so our presence with a factory in the US can be very important for our future development.

We can document the difference
In addition to reports and documentation on our washing concepts, KE Fibertec has focused for many years on sustainability and on being able to document our statements. We don't promise customers more than we can deliver. In early 2024, we launched important new documentation with new third-party verified EPDs, providing consultants and estimators with complete and dynamic CO2 data as a powerful tool for building certification. We are very pleased that we can now document that a textile based ventilation solution from KE Fibertec provides 4-5 times lower footprint than traditional metal ducts (Cradle-To-Gate) even without taking diffusers, bends and other fittings into account. Our EPD calculation considers the entire solution - in this case everything from material to packaging. This means that we can provide complete CO2 documentation for each project in terms of both textile material and installation parts, such as rail systems, accessories, and how much the packaging contributes to the overall carbon footprint. Together with ready-made documentation packages for DGNB and BREEAM certified buildings, we make the choice of a textile based ventilation solution easier for our customers.

Increased focus on renovation
In the past year, KE Fibertec has seen an ever-increasing focus on renovation projects for existing buildings - in line with the focus that the industry is working towards. Especially in sports and leisure, we have seen greater demand for renovation of existing buildings than in previous years, including several major projects in swimming pools, including Aarhus Municipality, where our ventilation solution has been chosen for several major local renovation projects in the same year. In close collaboration with our customer, OR Ventilation, we replaced the old systems with textile based ventilation. Another major project, also in renovation, was earlier this year when Lalandia Rødby replaced an outdated steel based ventilation system with a textile based solution from KE Fibertec. Today, the reports are that they are experiencing a significantly improved indoor climate. But we have also supplied exciting renovation projects to other types of construction. In connection with the renovation of Design School Kolding, KE Fibertec supplied a completely new textile based ventilation solution for the school's premises on all floors, ensuring optimal air exchange in the school's new surroundings.

There's no doubt that renovating existing buildings will become an important business model in the future, as both legislation and industry trends towards sustainability and resource efficiency are clearly moving in that direction. Instead of building new, manufacturers in the construction industry are forced to think in new ways about recycling materials and products for building renovation as an alternative to demolition and new construction. This has been KE Fibertec's focus for many years, and we have an ideal solution to meet all types of renovation projects within comfort and industrial ventilation. With a high degree of flexibility in design and layout, we can offer a strong alternative to other more conventional solutions for even the most complicated ventilation projects. At the same time, we have for a number of years focused on developing solutions that are less harmful to the environment in everything from optimising the raw materials we use to weave the textile material to offering washing and maintenance that helps extend the life of the ventilation system. The focus on renovation and end-of-life recycling of building materials was also a clear theme at this year's Building Green exhibition in Copenhagen. KE Fibertec was once again an exhibitor, and both through dialogue with the many visitors to our stand and other exhibitors, we experienced an increased focus on methods for recycling building materials and renovating the buildings of the future.

Challenges in a conservative market
At KE Fibertec, we believe that we can do a lot to contribute to change, and instead of just making empty promises, we work every day to strengthen our products and services in a more sustainable and future-proof direction. But we also operate in an industry that in many ways still operates conservatively and on some fronts is a bit heavy-handed when it comes to the green transition. As one of the highest emitting sectors, 10% of the country's emissions in 2023 came from construction and the materials used here alone. Overall, according to official Danish statistics, the construction industry accounts for just over a third of the country's total carbon emissions. Therefore, not only manufacturers, but also stakeholders such as consultants and decision-makers in construction need to think in new ways much faster and with greater impact.

KE Fibertec is one of the few in the industry that can prove that our textile based ventilation solutions make a difference in terms of environmental impact even after many years of use. Unfortunately, we still find that the lowest common denominator is often the deciding factor in a construction project. Price is all too often the decisive parameter in many projects, when quality, lifetime and reuse, i.e. total lifetime costs, should be at least as important parameters in the selection process. Clients should be looking for new alternatives to a much greater extent, and our hope is that investors will start to make more sustainable and long-term demands on the buildings that they will later benefit from. For KE Fibertec, it often becomes a choice to do something short-term. Therefore, it is our quiet hope that with new legislation, requirements for minimising carbon emissions and end-of-life recycling of building materials, the industry will develop with a more long-term focus on the climate.

Expectations for 2025
At KE Fibertec, we look forward to a new year with a lot of exciting ventilation projects in both renovation and new construction. Despite the fact that the market has become a little more difficult to predict and the construction industry has slowed down in some of our main markets in recent years, we have a positive and strong belief that we are well prepared to meet our customers' wishes for a good and environmentally friendly indoor climate. With investments on several fronts and an even stronger foundation to meet an increased interest in sustainable solutions, we are quite confident about the year ahead. With more ‘legs’ to stand on in the form of our own weaving mill, our own in-house service centre, new production units and more than 30 years of experience in technical advice and high quality of customised textile based ventilation systems, we feel well equipped for the new year.

KE Fibertec wishes everyone in the ventilation industry a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.