Economy Maxon Group in Obwalden achieves lower turnover in 2023

In 2023, the Obwalden-based Maxon Group was not quite able to match the record year of 2022. However, the manufacturer of electric motors, which are used in NASA's Mars exploration vehicles, is confident about the current year.

In 2023, sales fell by 6.1 percent to 664.4 million Swiss francs, as Maxon announced on Tuesday evening. One of the main reasons for this decline was currency losses, which cost more than 35 million francs.

In addition to the currency losses, the economic situation also had a negative impact on the annual result, according to the statement. Maxon also felt the after-effects of the Covid-19 pandemic: during the pandemic, for example, there was a boom in drives for ventilators; this market has now completely collapsed.

Despite the current decline, average growth over the last five years is still around plus 4 percent per year, according to the press release. The company did not publish any profit figures.

Incidentally, cash flow developed positively, rising from just under 54 million to 101 million. However, the number of employees fell from 3163 to 3049.

Higher R&D EXPENDITURE

Despite the decline in sales, Maxon continued to invest heavily in research and development: in 2023, this amounted to 53.6 million (previous year: 51.5 million), which corresponds to 8.1 percent of sales.

According to the press release, one highlight last year was the successful landing of the Indian lunar mission Chandrayaan-3, whose moon rover was equipped with drives from Maxon.

The company is confident about the current year 2024. The economic environment is slowly brightening up again. Many customers have reduced their stocks, which is now leading to repeat orders.