Despite some difficult market conditions, Kärcher once again achieved growth in the 2015 financial year, setting a new record with sales totalling EU €2.22 billion (AUD $3.28 billion).
“Our growth in 2015 was once again much higher than the industry average,” said Hartmut Jenner, chairman of the management board.
“This is mainly due to our innovativeness and ongoing internationalisation of our business. Despite difficult economic conditions in part, we have held our ground and managed to more than compensate for slumps in sales in our present growth markets Russia and Brazil.”
According to a press statement released by the company in April 2016, Kärcher’s sales increased by EU €108 million (AUD $160 million) or 5.1 per cent compared to the 2014 financial year. ‘With 12.87 million machines sold, Kärcher also achieved in the past year the highest sales in the company’s history’.
As well as developing new series productions products, including a fleet management system for building service contractors, Kärcher also ‘played a pioneering role in digitalisation in the end consumer segment: the prototype of the first water timer from Kärcher, which can be remotely operated via an app from a smartphone, was presented at the IFA 2015’.
The family-owned company also invested heavily in 2015, opening almost 550 Kärcher centres around the world and establishing a Kärcher-specific sales and service company in Georgia, a country in Euroasia.
‘In Germany, the company considerably invested in its Schwaikheim site, where in addition to offices and production areas, a new canteen was built,’ stated the press release.
‘At the end of 2015, the cleaning equipment manufacturer had a total of 11,333 employees in 60 countries. This corresponds to an increase of about 200 employees compared to the previous year’.