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Annual Report
2024

Our Annual Report provides a comprehensive overview of our financial and sustainability performance throughout 2024, all in one integrated document.


Demant’s CEO, Søren Nielsen, shares key insights and reflections on our performance over the past year and a glimpse at expectations for the next year.

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In 2024, where we marked Demant’s 120th anniversary, we also took important steps to become a more focused hearing healthcare company. Based on our strategy, Leading hearing healthcare, I am proud to present in this Annual Report our key achievements of the year as well as the commercial and sustainable aspects of operating and growing a global company for the benefit of our customers, users, employees and shareholders.

Read the full CEO letter here Read less

On 8 June 1904, the Demant family sold their first hearing aid from their mechanics spare parts store in a small Danish town. We can only guess whether the family celebrated this first order, but had they known what they started, they would have had ample reasons for excitement.


This year, we certainly celebrated the 120th anniversary of our cherished company, which has now evolved into a world-leading hearing healthcare company that offers solutions, benefitting millions of people either living with hearing loss or working on alleviating hearing loss. The innovative development of hearing aids, diagnostic equipment and hearing treatment for the past 120 years has taken place on the back of our commitment to always exceed expectations and deliver on our core purpose: To help people overcome hearing loss and improve their quality of life through innovative solutions and personalised hearing care.


Improved lives
Our purpose is to change the lives of people who would otherwise be significantly limited in their social and interpersonal interactions. In 2024, we improved the lives of 11 million people; they all benefitted from using hearing aids from Demant. This life-changing aspect and our ambition to help as many people as possible mean that we are committed to providing quality solutions, raising awareness about hearing loss and ensuring access to treatment. One way to do this is to test hearing loss, and in 2024, 1.5 million people were tested in one of our clinics worldwide. Thanks to the activities in our business areas, Hearing Aids, Hearing Care and Diagnostics, Demant has a positive impact on people’s health and well-being every day.


Before I celebrate the achievements of our business areas in 2024, let me start by saying that everything has not been all rosy in our anniver-sary year. Halfway through the year, we had to revise our financial outlook and implement cost-saving initiatives to safeguard profitability and deliver on our commitment to drive attractive financial returns for investors.


That being said, I want to emphasise that Demant is in a very strong position. This can be attributed to our ability to deliver growth and earnings across geographies and channels based on innovation, development of core technology and strong global distribution. In 2024, the Group delivered results – in line with our updated expectations – of 2% organic revenue growth and an operating profit before special items of DKK 4.4 billion. Especially our Hearing Care business area drove solid growth and generated 7% organic growth in second half year.


A more focused company
The Group’s solid performance in a highly competitive environment is the result of our important strategic decision to become a more focused hearing healthcare company. This was communicated in 2024, where we also harvested the first fruits of this strategy by finalising the divestment of our cochlear implants business and by creating a turnaround in our headset business EPOS from loss-making to profitable.


Another upside of our focused hearing healthcare strategy is our ability to further concentrate our efforts on the core business. For our Hearing Aids business area, performance in 2024 did not live up to our original expectations. On the back of a very strong 2023, we were not able to sustain momentum in 2024, which impacted our growth in a generally intense competitive market.

  • Revenue growth

    4%

  • EBIT before special items

    4,404

    DKK million

  • EBIT margin before special items

    19.6%

  • Cash flow from operating activities

    4,080

    DKK million

We are guided by our purpose and strategic ambition to create life-changing differences through hearing health. In 2024, we thus reached millions of people living with a hearing loss, while continuing to deliver industry-leading financial performance and improve our sustainability metrics.

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The Demant Group develops, manufactures and sells products and equipment that help people with hearing loss connect and communicate with the world around them. With our innovative products and services, we serve customers in more than 130 countries globally.

 

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Founded in 1904
by the Demant family

 

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Employs more than
22,000 employees globally

 

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More than 11 million lives improved in 2024

 

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  • The Hearing Aids business area engages in the development, manufacturing and wholesale of hearing aids, developing innovative and leading technological solutions that create life-changing hearing health.

    • Serves customers in 130+ countries

    • 900+ employees in Hearing Aids R&D

    Revenue (Ext.)

    10,022

    DKK million

     

    Growth

    2%

    in local currencies

    demant_people_sren_nielsen_ceo_210512_demant6213

    Søren Nielsen, President

    "Hearing Aids is a strong business and, despite the headwinds we experienced in 2024, we made an efficient commercial push in the last quarter which enabled us to achieve 2% growth for 2024. The Hearing Aids market is growing globally and remains highly competitive. With our stronghold in innovation, customer-centric sales and marketing activities as well as a well-functioning supply chain, Demant is well positioned to take market share. Driving innovation through Artificial Intelligence in hearing aids without compromising size, connectivity, performance or battery power are key factors that will be in the spotlight for the product launches we have in store for Q1 2025."

  • The Hearing Care business area comprises the Audika Group, which is a global retail company that provides personalised hearing care to customers worldwide through several strong local brands.

    • 4,000+ clinics worldwide

    • Hearing care clinics in 25+ countries

    Revenue

    9,932

    DKK million

     

    Growth

    9%

    in local currencies

    Niels Wagner, President

    "I am excited to see Hearing Care delivering very solid organic growth in 2024. Sales picked up in March and continued throughout the year driven by factors such as a stronger operating model, people development and a clear value proposition. We are seeing great return on investments, which has propelled countries into even stronger market-leading positions and confirmed our momentum. Acquisitions have also played a role in our growth, especially in key markets like Germany. I also want to highlight how our employees excel in providing personalised and professional care and extensive support to our customers."

  • The Diagnostics business area consists of a group of international companies and is the global market leader in hearing and balance assessment solutions used by audiologists, ENT doctors and balance clinics worldwide.

    • Facilitated screening of 200+ million people

    • Holds a market share of more than 50% in relevant categories

    Revenue

    2,465

    DKK million

     

    Growth

    0%

    in local currencies

    Anne-Karen Hunt, President

    "In 2024, our market-leading position and robust product portfolios across all our brands have been crucial in maintaining our position in weaker-than-expected markets. Our Diagnostics business area is robust and well prepared for 2025. We expect to expand our presence in key channels and markets, driven by strong customer-centricity through innovation and sharp focus on processes. We anticipate that structural growth drivers remain intact and that we will continue to perform well across all segments of the Diagnostics portfolio."

  • Organic growth

    3-7%

  • Operating profit
    (EBIT)

    4,500-4,900

    DKK million
  • Share buy-backs


    >1,500

    DKK million

  • +16

    Million lives improved

  • 2

    Million hearing tests performed

  • 50%

    Renewable energy

  • 46%

    Reduction in scope 1 & 2 green house gas emissions

  • 46%

    Reduction in scope 3 green house gas emissions

  • NET-ZERO
    emissions in 2050

  • 67th 

    percentile

    Reach top-third level in employees' experience of inclusion

     

     

  • 67th 

    percentile

    Reach top-third level in employee engagement

     

     

  • 35/65

    (women/men)

    Gender balance in top-level management

  • 100%

    Providing code of conduct training to highly exposed employees