Double-digit sales growth for the German company, mainly due to increased gardening activities.
Despite all the Corona skepticism, the German chainsaw manufacturer Stihl posted record business in the year that is drawing to a close. “In 2020 we will have double-digit sales growth for the first time in nine years,” said Stihl boss Bertram Kandziora to the German “Handelsblatt”. “We will also achieve sales of over four billion euros for the first time.” This record was already exceeded in November.
1,000 new jobs worldwide
According to Kandziora, Stihl benefited from the fact that “many people during the pandemic were at home a lot and worked more in their gardens”. The job market also benefited from the boom in demand: “The workforce has increased by more than 1,000 to over 18,000 worldwide,” said the Stihl boss.
Sunday shifts
Should demand fall in 2021, Stihl would still have to “continue to produce at the highest level at least until the middle of the year and also run Sunday shifts because we have to replenish the stocks in our entire sales chain after the boom of recent months”. In order to increase capacities accordingly, the investments would be increased by double-digit million euros to around 350 million euros.
There was never any short-time work
In the spring, in view of the beginning pandemic, Stihl made cautious comments about the course of business in 2020 and expected falling sales figures. Nevertheless, in March the company decided to continue working in order to be able to deliver in any case, instead of going on short-time work like many other companies. “In fact, when demand shot up surprisingly by over 30 percent month after month from May, we were largely able to deliver. Not every competitor has managed that, ”said Kandziora. According to his information, Stihl currently even works on Sundays.
In 2019, Stihl was able to increase sales by four percent to 3.93 billion euros with stagnating sales. The company benefited, among other things, from shifts in the product mix towards higher-quality devices. The company does not generally provide any specific information on the result.
