Dear Shareholders:
Quaker Houghton enters 2025 in a strong position. In 2024, we effectively managed items we could control, allowing us to improve profitability, generate strong cash flow and advance our enterprise strategy. Our success is a direct result of our 4,400 employees, who remain dedicated to improving our customers’ operations and productivity while managing through significant macroeconomic challenges.
In 2024, we generated $1.84 billion of sales. Overall sales volumes were in line with the prior year, due to market share gains and despite a third consecutive year of contraction in our end markets. Through our customer partnerships and ability to enhance the value delivered to our customers, we drove strong new business wins, outperforming the markets we serve. This performance gives us confidence in the strength of our business model and our strategic direction.
Looking ahead, our priorities to further transform Quaker Houghton are straightforward. We are focused on accelerating growth, improving operational efficiency and strengthening our connection with customers by offering an enhanced portfolio of solutions.
We are further aligning our resources and investing in capabilities in emerging geographic regions and new product applications with differentiated growth characteristics. We are also sharpening our focus on customer intimacy and sustainability, creating better pathways to facilitate growth. There are ample opportunities to leverage our global talent, our scale, and our reach to deliver a differentiated experience for our customers, who place great value on technical service and product performance. We are enhancing our digital capabilities in ways that will improve our responsiveness and customer service. These actions are aimed at strengthening our core and will position us well to meet our industry’s evolving needs.
Our financial strength and disciplined capital allocation priorities give us flexibility to invest in our growth, while maintaining our commitment to shareholders. In 2024, we increased our dividend for the 15th consecutive year, strengthened our balance sheet and returned $82 million to shareholders through dividends and share repurchases. We also invested in our business to support our future growth, including acquiring two companies that complement our industry-leading portfolio of products and services globally.
I am humbled to lead this incredible organization at this exciting time in our storied history. We are committed to advancing our enterprise strategy to deliver long-term growth and create value for shareholders, regardless of the external environment.
Thank you for your ownership and support of Quaker Houghton.
Best Regards,
Joseph A. Berquist
Chief Executive Officer and President
