For the current year, the household appliance manufacturer expects stable business figures or a small plus.
(Photo: imago images / STPP)
Dusseldorf The household appliance manufacturer Miele achieved more sales in the 2022 financial year than ever before. Revenues rose by 12.2 percent to 5.43 billion euros, although the company was struggling with problems in the supply chains and the special economic situation caused by the corona had subsided sharply, the family-owned company announced on Monday in Gütersloh.
In 2022, Miele also gave up business in Russia, which, however, was not one of the most important foreign markets even before the war. In March 2022, Miele had already stopped delivering devices to the country, except for medical technology, due to the war of aggression against Ukraine.
According to the company, the Eastern European and Asian countries including China made a disproportionately large contribution to the high growth in sales. But established markets such as Australia, Great Britain, the Netherlands and the USA also continued to grow. In Germany, Miele has a turnover of 1.47 billion euros, which corresponds to an increase of 5.6 percent. The company generates more than 70 percent abroad.
Many companies that are active in China are currently discussing whether they should also reconsider their involvement in the country in view of the increasingly rigid regime in Beijing and the threats against Taiwan. There are various scenarios for this, such as producing locally only for the Chinese market.
This is not the case with Miele. When asked, the company explained that the only factory in China produces vacuum cleaners for the world market. In addition, the managing partners Markus Miele and Reinhard Zinkann said: “China is a very promising and high-potential market for Miele, which has developed very well in recent years.”
However, less than 30 percent of Miele vacuum cleaners are produced in the Dongguan plant. The significantly larger part still comes from the factory in Bielefeld. “If China were to fail as a sales market or production location, it would be painful for Miele, but not existential,” the shareholders explained. There are no plans for a gradual withdrawal from China.
Miele expects more headwind in 2023
In the coming year, business will obviously become somewhat more difficult again. On Monday, the management was “cautiously optimistic that business can be kept stable at the high level or even increased further despite the existing imponderables”. However, the price increases for materials, energy and logistics remained a challenge.
Together with four other managing directors, the two representatives of the owner families run the family company in Gütersloh.
(Photo: Miele)
Possible reasons for a challenging year 2023 are, above all, that the special boom caused by the cooking boom during the pandemic has abated. In addition, retailers have stocked up heavily themselves, also because of possible price increases as a result of inflation.
Miele reported short-time work for a few days at the beginning of February and the beginning of March. Washing machine production was first affected, then the vacuum cleaner plant “due to a significant drop in orders and the resulting threat to warehouse logistics,” the company said. Since July, Rebecca Steinhage has been responsible for human resources in the six-strong management board.
More than 23,300 people work for the family business
In any case, the company wants to continue to grow and is building 300 more office jobs at its headquarters. The previous employees in the office can choose between different variants of home office use. In total, more than 23,300 people work for the 125-year-old company, more than ever before.
5,000 employees have signed one of the two agreements for mobile working or working from home with the family business. You can do up to 80 percent of your working hours at home. This means that more than two thirds of all employees in Germany are already considering mobile working or home offices. Flexible solutions are also in use in other countries, depending on the respective framework conditions.
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In 2022, Miele continued to invest in renewable energies and energy efficiency. Five gigawatt hours of energy were saved group-wide. In the Chinese plant in Dongguan, the entire energy requirement is already covered by solar panels.
Since 2019, Miele has increased its annual electricity production from photovoltaics by a total of seven gigawatt hours, the company said. An ambitious geothermal project is just starting in Gütersloh. Miele is also investing in “green” steel and now also in “green” aluminium. Since 2021, the company has been CO2-neutral in terms of its own emissions (“Scope 1”) and those of the energy suppliers (“Scope 2”).
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