Schaan (FL), March 18, 2022 – The Hilti Group achieved sales growth of 12.1 percent to nearly CHF 6 billion in 2021 and increased the operating result disproportionately by 16.3 percent to CHF 847 million. The strong recovery brings the Group back to the pre-COVID-19 crisis level.
"The positive development of the worldwide construction industry enabled a faster recovery from the COVID-19-related downturn than expected. It is very pleasing that we were able to increase our profitability despite the globally tense supply situation and further increasing investments in our direct sales, innovation, and digitalization. For one time, we also benefited from a stable currency environment," explains CEO Christoph Loos.
All business regions contributed to the sales growth. Europe, with a strongly improved environment in the Mediterranean countries, was 13.8 percent above the previous year in local currencies. Significant increases were also recorded in the Americas (+10.5%) with disproportionate growth in Latin America, and in Asia/Pacific (+8.9%) despite unchanged strong COVID-19 restrictions in Southeast Asia. In the Eastern Europe / Middle East / Africa region (+12.3%), mainly the Eastern European countries contributed to the double-digit sales increase. With the exception of the Middle East, all regions returned to pre-crisis levels.
The Hilti Group again invested strongly in innovations and launched 66 new products and services on the market. Expenditures for research and development reached CHF 373 million (+4.2%), equal to 6.2 percent of sales. Regarding the number of employees, the temporary hiring slowdown in 2020 was followed by a significant expansion of the team to a total of 31,115 employees (+5.3%) per end of 2021.
Despite significantly higher raw material and transport prices, both the operating result and the net profit increased disproportionately, by 16.3 and 27.1 percent, respectively, and reached all-time highs of CHF 847 million and CHF 675 million. The return on sales (ROS) reached 14.2 percent (2020: 13.7%), the return on capital employed (ROCE) 17.1 percent (2020: 16.4%).
The worldwide construction industry forecasts point towards a favorable business environment in 2022. There are, however, significant uncertainties due to the escalation in Ukraine, ongoing cost increases and challenges in the sourcing and logistic markets, the substantial appreciation of the Swiss franc and the uncertain progress of the COVID-19 pandemic. Nonetheless, the Group remains dedicated to its strategic targets and will take advantage of its very solid financial position to continue to invest significantly in innovative solutions and the digitalization of company processes, with a focus on expanding the software business. In 2022, the Hilti Group anticipates double-digit sales growth and a profitability of 2-3 percentage points below the 2021 level.
The 2021 Company Report (including the Financial Report and the Sustainability Report) are available online. Follow this link: https://reports.hilti.group
