The companies of Schwarz Group are tackling the global challenges. From production and retail to recycling and digitalization, they further expanded their strong market position in the 2024 fiscal year. Across all business units, they generated total revenue of 175.4 billion euros. This corresponds to a revenue increase of 4.9% year on year. Despite the tense global economic situation, approximately 20,000 new jobs were created within the group throughout the entire value cycle — around 4,000 of them in Germany. This means that the companies of Schwarz Group now employ around 595,000 people worldwide.
Strength in Diversity: Sustainable Growth
As reliable local suppliers, Lidl and Kaufland place enormous value on being close to their customers. That is why they have expanded their network by around 300 new stores to a total of approximately 14,200 stores. The strong retail core is holding its own in a dynamic market environment: Lidl increased its store revenue by 5.3% year on year to 132.1 billion euros. With revenue of 35.2 billion euros, Kaufland achieved 2.9% growth. Total online revenue amounted to 1.7 billion euros, which is on par with the previous year’s market trend.
PreZero continues to pursue its goal of creating a reliable circular economy in order to reduce avoidable waste to zero, conserve natural resources and maximize recycling. With the “Road to Zero Waste” initiative, the environmental division is supporting more and more companies and sports clubs on this path to a clean future. And they have done so successfully: PreZero increased its revenue by 5.4% to 3.9 billion euros, partly due to increased volumes in recyclables trading and an expanded market share within Germany’s dual system.
The production companies of Schwarz Group ensure a reliable supply of goods even in globally challenging times. They supplied goods worth 4.6 billion euros, primarily to Lidl and Kaufland, resulting in an increase of 9.5% year on year. Production capacity was further expanded by, among other things, the operation of the new nut roasting plant in Rheine and the beverage plant in Derby (Great Britain), Schwarz Produktion’s first international production site.
In a digital age, Schwarz Digits guarantees the greatest possible sovereignty for a future-proof economy and society. Solutions in areas such as the cloud, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, communications and the workplace ensure the entire ecosystem of the companies of Schwarz Group is digitally independent. External partners and customers also benefit from the expertise and services offered, as demonstrated by strong partnerships with Google, ServiceNow and SAP. Thanks in part to the STACKIT and XM Cyber offer, the IT and digital division, which was newly founded in the previous fiscal year, generated a stable revenue of 1.9 billion euros in line with its still brief business activity.
As one of the largest retail groups in the world, the companies of Schwarz Group take their responsibility to improve the lives of current and future generations seriously. Despite the globally volatile economic situation, they increased their investments by 7.5% to 8.6 billion euros in the 2024 fiscal year — 3.3 billion of which in Germany. They invested primarily in store expansion and the development of warehouse locations, as well as in the capacity of their European data centers. For the ongoing 2025 fiscal year, they are raising their investments to 9.6 billion euros, 3.7 billion of which are to be invested in Germany.
“The successful 2024 fiscal year for the companies of Schwarz Group is primarily based on the tireless efforts and outstanding commitment of our employees. Together, we are shaping the future of our group and working on innovative solutions for the challenges of tomorrow,” says Gerd Chrzanowski, General Partner Schwarz Group. “This has enabled us to grow sustainably together in all divisions, even in a time of global uncertainty, and to continue investing in Germany as an economic hub and in a digitally sovereign Europe.”
The reporting date is February 28, 2025. The aggregate total revenue includes all revenue items under German commercial law.
