In the 2016 financial year, the Hansgrohe Group exceeded one billion euros in sales for the first time in its company history.
The globally operating company was also able to post yet another record year in earnings. Thorsten Klapproth, Chairman of the Executive Board, and Udo Kraus, Vice President Finance and Controlling, announced the results at the mixer and shower specialist’s annual financial press conference in Frankfurt, Germany.
With its two brands, AXOR and hansgrohe, the company generated a total of EUR 1.029 billion in sales compared to EUR 964 million in the previous year. This growth, which is exclusively organic, corresponds to an increase of 6.7 % (currency adjusted: 8.5 %) over the 2015 financial year. EBITDA rose even more sharply by 10.3 % to EUR 206.1 million (EUR 186.8 million in 2015), also hitting an all-time high.
“The company’s nearly 4,800 highly motivated and tremendously dedicated employees around the world have once again proven that the Hansgrohe Group is an industry leader,” says Thorsten Klapproth.
“In the 2016 financial year, we succeeded in growing extremely profitably and faster than the market in all sales regions. This demonstrates the trust our clients and customers place in our promise to deliver quality, innovation and design.”
Successful at home and worldwide
The domestic market was particularly dynamic with an increase of 8.8%. Germany, still the most important single market, contributed substantially to the company’s positive overall performance.
The Hansgrohe Group generated nearly 80% of its revenue outside Germany in 2016, supplying products to more than 140 countries.
In the past financial year, the global player continued to successfully pursue its profitable strategy of focussing on regions in Europe with very strong performance, as well as large growth regions around the world.
“A boom in the construction of 3-star and 4-star-hotels, as well as a growing middle class means that the project business in the Far East offers enormous opportunities for the AXOR and hansgrohe brands”
In 2016, about 60% of the company’s overall sales were generated in Europe and 40% in the rest of the world.
Sales growth in China was particularly strong. The 14.3% increase in sales was considerably higher than growth in the market sector and the country’s economy.
A boom in the construction of 3-star and 4-star-hotels, as well as a growing middle class means that the project business in the Far East offers enormous opportunities for the AXOR and hansgrohe brands.
Investing in the future
“The future needs a past,” Thorsten Klapproth emphasises. “We need deep roots to succeed internationally. In the long term, strategic investments in our German sites amounting to EUR 42.9 million will secure our competitive edge on the global market.”
The EUR 48.7 million invested during the 2016 financial year was financed entirely from cash flow. The Hansgrohe Group invested some EUR 30 million to expand its global logistics centre at the Offenburg site.
Significantly higher capacities and the latest in digital technologies enable the company to respond faster and better to the most diverse customer needs worldwide and to strengthen international sales in the long term.
Another EUR 1.7 million were invested in the Technikum to consolidate the company’s expertise in plastics at its Offenburg site; the new plastics technology centre was inaugurated in January 2016. By investing EUR 4.6 million in a new research and development laboratory at its headquarters in Schiltach, the Hansgrohe Group established a solid foundation for future innovation.
