The Liebherr Group’s overall turnover is expected to be 8,866 million euros in this business year. Compared with the turnover from 2013, this is a slight drop of about 98 million euros or 1 %.
In the area of construction machines and mining, Liebherr expects a turnover of approximately 5,374 million euros which is a decline of 256 million euros or 4.5 %. This decline results above all from the weakness of the global mining industry. The Group’s construction machinery and mining area comprises the earthmoving, mobile crane, tower crane, concrete technology and mining divisions. In the current business year, turnover in the mining division, in particular, has fallen considerably.
For the divisions beyond this area, an overall growth is expected. By the end of the year, forecasts indicate that the turnover there will be 3,492 million euros. This represents an increase of 158 million euros or about 5 %. The divisions in question are maritime cranes, aerospace and transportation systems, machine tools and automation systems, domestic appliances as well as other products and services, the latter including the driveline and control-system components division. Especially turnover from the maritime cranes division and from other products and services has developed very pleasingly.
The business year has been gratifying for the Group in Western Europe. In most other sales regions, however, Liebherr has recorded a decline in turnover. Particularly in the Far East / Australia region as well as in the Near and Middle East, the level of dynamism has been very low. In Africa and America, on the other hand, the turnover for the entire year is anticipated to almost reach the previous year’s level.
In the current business year, the Group has once again invested heavily in production, sales and service – the total amount of investment was 820 million euros.
The number of employees in the Group has continued to increase this year. By the end of 2014, the Liebherr companies will employ about 41,000 people around the world. Compared with last year’s figure, the number of employees will consequently have risen by more than 1,800.
For 2015, a worldwide growth of 3.8 % is anticipated, which would represent a greater dynamic than in this year. Against this backdrop, the Group is looking optimistically towards the next year: Based on an initial estimate, Liebherr expects the overall turnover to increase.