Leveraging with the green card
BSH Group delivered above average profitability in the recessionary market, by maintaining its green focus and growing its investment in energy-efficient technologies. Anna Ryland reports.
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year for us: We continue to achieve above- average profitability. That is remarkable, not least because the past year was anything but easy for the home appliance industry. In many countries, BSH was able to achieve above-average growth and strengthen its competitive edge – especially with regard to super-efficient home appliances and consumer products”, said BSH CEO Dr Kurt-Ludwig Gutberlet, opening the annual press conference in Munich. In 2011, BSH Group’s revenue
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increased by 6.4% to a total of EUR 9.654 billion which was a new record for the company. Adjusted for currency effects, the figure represents a year-on- year increase in revenue of 8.2%. However with material prices rising by an average of 5%, the company saw a decrease of 1.2 percentage points in the group’s profit in 2011. In Germany it achieved above the market growth and it was able to generate a revenue increase of more than 8%.
BSH was able to further strengthen its leading role in the energy efficient appliances category. In 2011, the sales of its super-efficient appliances (energy efficiency categories A++ and A+++) rose
ll in all, 2011 was a very successful
by 12% to approximately 3.5 million units. The sales share of super-efficient appliances as part of the overall BSH sales in Europe thus increased from 26 to 28%. The company’s small home appliances have made an above-average contribution to the growth of BSH in the past year.
Regional performance Despite the worsening debt crisis, in Germany BSH experienced more growth than the market as a whole. In 2011, BSH increased its revenues in Germany by 8.2% to EUR 2.062 billion passing the two billion Euro mark for the first time in that country. This came as a result of high sales of built-in appliances and the growing demand for energy-efficient products, such as tumble dryers with the heat pump technology. Company’s revenues in other Western
European countries (excluding Germany) decreased slightly to EUR 3.514 billion (- 0.7%). Due to problems in national economies, BSH also experienced particular difficulties in the Spanish, Greek and Portuguese markets. BSH business activities in Great Britain, France, Belgium and Sweden, on the other hand, showed positive growth.
20 The Independent Electrical Retailer June 2012 Eastern Europe has been considered a
growth market for the company for some time. In 2011, its core markets of Turkey, Russia and Poland once again exhibited solid growth. Dynamic growth was also achieved in the Russian, Romanian and Ukrainian markets. In Eastern Europe the overall revenue increase was 15.5%. The BSH North American market displayed a noticeable downward trend. In 2011, BSH revenues there decreased by 10.3% to EUR 479 million. This was partially due to the fact that the company withdrew the regional production of 27in washing machines from its North American site in New Bern, North Carolina, because of aggressive competition, which led to a steep decline in prices.
The Asian region continues to be the largest growth market for the company. Until 2011, China made the most significant contribution to growth. However, the funding program for home appliances ended in three of the largest Chinese provinces in 2011. As a result, China experienced a noticeable decline in growth. Nevertheless the Group’s revenues in Asia increased by 17.6% to EUR 1.506 billion. In China, the company continue to be the most successful foreign
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