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Faber-Castell wants to grow despite falling sales

Coloured pencils, highlighters, pens, watercolours: The new school year is approaching, and for many people, the Faber-Castell brand is part of it. The company recorded a slight decline in sales of 4.7 percent to EUR 618.4 million in the past financial year 2023/24. The previous year saw the second-best sales in the company’s history at EUR 649.2 million. However, adjusted for currency effects, the current decline is only 1.9 percent; according to Faber-Castell, profitability is still in the high single-digit range and is therefore significantly higher than in the 2019/20 financial year.

Despite a weak economy and geopolitical conflicts, the world's largest manufacturer of colored pencils and pens is looking positively to the future: “Globally, we see disproportionate growth opportunities, especially in emerging regions such as Asia and Latin America,” says CEO Stefan Leitz.

It is more than 250 years old.

Faber-Castell was founded in 1761 and is family-owned. The ninth generation of the Count family is now the main shareholder. Members of the noble family are represented on the supervisory board of the unlisted joint-stock company.

Image: Faber-Castell

“}”> Faber-Castell family adopts new ownership strategy

Family owned: Victoria, Katharina, Charles and Sarah von Faber-Castell (9th generation)
Image: Faber-Castell

The company has been headed by a non-family member of the Board of Directors since 2017. Faber-Castell's headquarters are located in Stein near Nuremberg.

The traditional German company has been running a factory in Engelhartszell in Innviertel for 60 years. Its 50 employees produce 43 million highlighters and 250 to 300 tons of ink every year. According to Faber-Castell, it employs around 6,500 people worldwide. A total of two billion pencils and colored pencils are manufactured every year in production facilities in ten countries. This means that nine out of every ten euros is turned over at Faber-Castell. The majority of the business, 85 percent, comes from private customers.