Shift to growth
Sandvik has a long-term target to grow 7 percent over a business cycle, organically and through acquisitions. Since 2019, we have had an annual growth of 7 percent (CAGR 2019–2024) and become a SEK 123 billion company, a strong achievement considering macro-economic challenges and our exit from Russia. Organic growth is paramount to achieving our targets and in 2024 we continued to launch ground-breaking innovations connected to electrification, digitalization and automation (see Sandvik Mining and Rock Solutions – Innovations, Sandvik Rock Processing Solutions – Innovations and Sandvik Manufacturing and Machining Solutions – Innovations). Our New Sales Ratio (NSR) target of 30–35 percent by 2025, defined as the share of sales from products launched in the last five years, was 24 percent (25) in 2024. Investments in R&D amounted to 4.1 percent (3.8) of revenues. We have also strengthened our portfolio through acquisitions, and since 2020 added SEK 22 billion in revenues from acquisitions with strong strategic rationale.
Our ambition is to grow faster than the market, and our Group target relies on specific growth initiatives in all our businesses. With both Sandvik Mining and Rock Solutions and Sandvik Rock Processing Solutions, we aim to grow (CAGR versus 2019) 10 percent, and 5 percent with the Sandvik Machining Solutions business area segment. Business area segment Sandvik Manufacturing Solutions has a growth target to reach SEK 4 billion in software revenues by 2025.
Sandvik has continued to make progress in the “shift to growth” strategy in 2024. We have invested in innovation and acquired important assets, strengthening our foundation to capture the growth opportunities we see ahead.
Growth areas
Sandvik has identified prioritized growth areas for each of its businesses, with digitalization and sustainability as common denominators.
Sandvik Mining and Rock Solutions is industry-leading regarding the electrification of underground mining equipment, with the ambition that 50 percent of underground hard rock equipment sales should be electric by 2030. In 2024, we continued to develop our unique battery-electric offering with a new trolley solution for battery-electric vehicle (BEV) trucks, as well as an upgraded Lithium Iron Phosphate (LFP) battery module with enhanced performance and safety. To ensure new technologies are optimized for specific customer demands, close collaboration is of the essence.
In 2024, Sandvik acquired Universal Field Robots (UFR), a provider of autonomous interoperable solutions for the surface mining and underground mining markets. The acquisition will increase the addressable market and further strengthen the market position of AutoMine® – the leading mining automation platform. Adding to the platform’s existing capabilities to integrate third-party equipment, UFR will significantly expand the number of compatible systems. This will reinforce our underground position and provide opportunities to grow within surface mining, a segment where we have the target of doubling our revenues from 2022 by 2028.
The key focus areas for Sandvik Rock Processing Solutions are to expand in mining and increase the share of parts, services and consumables, and the acquisition of SP Mining in 2022 was an important step in that direction. With a strengthened position as a full-service provider of crushers and screens, we will expand across customers and geographically.
Sandvik Rock Processing Solutions is shaping eco-efficient rock processing solutions. By replacing some of the high-energy-consuming grinding with fine crushing solutions we expand our offering in the value chain and reduce energy use at the customer’s site. Our leading crusher technology is an enabler to make this shift for customers currently using legacy techniques in grinding. During the year, we launched an upgraded cone crusher series with improved capabilities in terms of higher crushed volumes and finer particles sizes.
The business area segments Sandvik Manufacturing Solutions and Sandvik Machining Solutions have the common aspiration of providing end-to-end optimization and automation within component manufacturing, but they also address separate strategic areas for future growth. Sandvik Machining Solutions’ priority areas are to strengthen our position in inserts, take a leading position in round tools and the mid-market segment, and to expand outside of Europe. There is also an ambition to be the industry leader in digital solutions, and to master the automotive shift towards electric vehicles (EVs).
Sandvik Machining Solutions made important progress in strategic execution with the acquisition of leading US-based workholding fixtures and tooling company PDQ. Furthermore, by acquiring a majority stake in the leading round tools company Suzhou Ahno, Sandvik established a strong foothold in the fast-growing local premium segment in China. The shift towards electric vehicles within the automotive industry requires new capabilities and solutions, and we continued to build on our offering through the acquisitions of Pro-micron, a supplier of sensorized tools and automation software, and Almü, a solutions provider for aluminium machining.
Sandvik Manufacturing Solutions is growing through the offering of an end-to-end agnostic digital offering with a portfolio of strong brands. In 2024, our software businesses had strong momentum and grew by mid single digits, despite challenging markets. We also enhanced our ability to serve our customers through the acquisition of Cimquest, a US-based reseller of Computer Aided Manufacturing (CAM) solutions and the largest reseller to our CAM brand, Mastercam®.