Hilti reports positive year despite challenging environment
March 16, 2020
The Hilti Group, based in Schaan, Lichtenstein, has reported its full-year results for the financial year 2019. The group saw a sales increase of 4.3% in 2019 to CHF 5.9 billion, in what it described as a challenging economic and currency environment. Its operating result was said to have risen by 7.4% to CHF 783 million, despite substantial ongoing investments.
Expenditures on research and development, at CHF 367 million, were 3.2% higher than in the previous year. This contributed to the group’s being able to bring seventy new products to market in 2019. At the end of the financial year, Hilti employed 30,006 staff, a growth of roughly 1,000 employees since the end of 2018.
Net income in 2019 was up 8.2% to CHF 591 million. In 2020, the Hilti Group stated that it expects the market environment to remain challenging due to ongoing political uncertainties and trade conflicts, as well as a possible global effect stemming from the coronavirus (Covid-19).
Without taking coronavirus into account, the group expects mid-single digit sales growth with similar profitability as in 2019 in 2020. However, an assessment of the impact of the virus on the business has not yet been possible.
