Turnover increased by 26 per cent in 2021

“2021 was a year of high demand,” was how Hettich Managing Director Sascha Groß summed it up at the system specialist’s digital press conference today. The company generated sales of 1.348 billion euros in the past financial year (2020: 1.066 billion euros). This is an increase of 26 per cent compared to the previous year. “Our customers would have liked to place even more orders,” added Managing Director Jana Schönfeld. “But bottlenecks in containers, for example, or a lack of capacity among truck drivers unfortunately made that impossible.” “Sometimes raw materials were missing, supply chains were clogged or capacities were exhausted,” added Sascha Groß.

The export share rose to 74 per cent in 2021 (previous year: 70 per cent). In terms of markets, China, India and the USA, among others, grew strongly. Currently, 7,400 people work for the system specialist in six production countries and subsidiaries in 24 countries, more than 3,700 of them in Germany.

Naturally, massively rising costs were and still are a major challenge at Hettich. “The cost increases have weighed heavily on us. And we couldn’t avoid price adjustments,” says Uwe Kreidel, Managing Director at Hettich International. “We had to pass these on, but this was only possible with a time lag. Of course, the strong growth in 2021 helped us to alleviate the burdens. We expect the earnings situation to remain under pressure in 2022 and will again have to talk to customers about price adjustments.”

79 million euros were invested in new products, buildings and machinery at Hettich global 2021. Hettich is currently investing in further capacity. For example, the company is expanding its production space for drawer runners and drawers in Kirchlengern/Bünde with the construction of a new production hall. More than 30 million euros are being invested to create an additional 23,500 square metres of floor space. Various drawer systems in particular will be produced here. Production will start there in 2023.

Hettich is also setting up another production facility in the Chinese region of Guangdong, the heart of the furniture industry there. “We will be producing lift guides and hinges for the local market there,” says Sascha Groß.

As far as trade fairs are concerned, Hettich will be exhibiting at this year’s “Holz-Handwerk”, among others. As far as “Sicam” is concerned, the decision is not yet one hundred per cent, but Uwe Kreidel said when asked that he assumed they would be exhibiting in Pordenone again. Next year’s “Interzum” is set.

Between March and September 2021, 61,500 interested parties took part in the virtual event “Hettich Experience Days”.

Hettich is currently looking with concern to Ukraine, where the company operates a sales office in Kiev. “Our 14 employees there are doing well under the circumstances,” explains Sascha Groß. “We condemn this war in the strongest possible terms. This military aggression against an independent country is a deep cut for all of us after decades of peace in Europe. What the war means for the local people and for us remains to be seen. Our full solidarity is with the people in the war zone and we hope that further suffering will be avoided.”