Liebherr reports 2021 sales boost

The Switzerland-based Liebherr Group says it achieved sales of 11.64 billion euros ($12.7 billion) in 2021, calling that a 12.6 percent increase from its 2020 revenue figure. Its revenue in 2021, the equipment maker says, matched its 2019 sales figure.

Achieving the mark was not easy, the company says. “From the second quarter in 2021, to some extent, it was extremely difficult to procure various raw materials, components and electronic parts,” states the firm. “This resulted in price increases and bottlenecks in global supply chains. Despite that, Liebherr recorded a significant increase in sales revenue compared to the previous year. The Liebherr Group grew in eleven of its 13 product segments and in almost all of its sales regions.”

Liebherr says revenues in its earthmoving, material handling technology, deep foundation machinery, mobile and crawler crane, tower crane, concrete technology and mining product segments were 17 percent higher than in the previous year, checking in at more than 8 billion euros ($8.7 billion).

In its other product segments, which include maritime cranes, aerospace and transportation systems, gear technology and automation systems, refrigerators and freezers and components and hotels, Liebherr achieved total revenues of 3.6 billion euros ($3.9 billion), a 3.9 percent increase compared with the previous year.

The company points to “positive development” in North America, Central America and South America, “where strong growth came especially from Brazil.”

In 2021, the Liebherr Group achieved a net profit for the year of 545 million euros ($595 million), which it calls “above the level before the pandemic.”

At the end of the year, the Liebherr Group employed more than 49,500 people worldwide, representing an increase of nearly 1,700 compared with one year earlier.

Alternative drive technologies for machinery continue to be a focal point of research projects at Liebherr, says the company. In 2021, the company says it worked on “hydrogen-powered combustion engines and their injection technologies, as well as electric drives.”

Development include two all-electric truck mixers on five-axle chassis frames, two electric crawler excavators (R 976-E and R 980 SME-E) and the battery-powered crawler cranes LR 1160.1 unplugged and LR 1130.1 unplugged.

The company says it invested 742 million euros ($810 million) in its production sites and its global distribution and service networks.

Looking ahead, Liebherr Group says it has started 2022 “with a very good order situation.” The company adds, “Opportunities arise from expected increase in demand in various industrial sectors in which the Liebherr Group is active. However, the negative effects on the activities of the Liebherr Group due to the war in Ukraine can already be seen. Liebherr is monitoring and assessing the current situation in Ukraine and Russia on a daily basis and is currently in the process of adjusting its Russian activities to the extensive sanctions imposed on the country.”