Stihl Sets Revenue Record in 2021, ‘Despite Enormously Challenging Circumstances’

The Stihl Group achieved record-breaking revenue of 5.06 billion euros in fiscal year 2021, reported the company during an April press conference presenting the company’s annual results, equating to a year-on-year increase of 10.4 percent. The company, headquartered in Waiblingen, Germany, generated 90 percent of its sales revenue abroad.

“We exceeded our own expectations in 2021,” said Michael Traub, the chairman of the Executive Board of Stihl, at the press conference. “Not only did we achieve new records in terms of sales and production, we also exceeded the 5-billion-euro mark in revenue for the first time in our 96-year history, despite enormously challenging circumstances.”

Even though global disruption to supply chains and severe shortages in materials, capacity and personnel significantly impacted the market supply situation, Stihl noted that it was still able to keep its production running at full speed thanks to proactive planning.

Highlights from the press conference:

• Growth across all markets, gardening products in particularly high demand: The gardening and DIY trend continued in 2021. Many customers, particularly in Western Europe and North America, have been exploring entirely new approaches to beautifying their green spaces. As a result, “demand for high-quality and user-friendly products that further increase the feel-good factor in people’s homes and gardens was particularly strong.” Demand for consumer and professional products increased across all regions. The trend toward battery-operated tools continued overall in the past year, particularly in the consumer goods segment in western industrialized countries. However, demand among professional users for high-performance battery-operated tools also increased. Demand for Stihl’s gasoline-powered products remained brisk as well, with sales also increasing year on year in this segment. “These figures clearly show that our customers continue to regard both segments as relevant and important,” Traub said. “That’s why we will continue to invest a great deal in the forward-looking battery-operated segment without compromising on our gasoline-powered tool business.”

• Product-availability challenges: In many markets, Stihl noted it would have been able to sell more tools under better global supply-chain conditions. Production at all locations around the world was at full pace to match strong global demand. Traub: “We are doing everything in our power to ensure that our customers continue to be supplied with our products. However, it is simply not possible to reliably predict product availability in light of current events. Problems caused by existing supply-chain tension will only be exacerbated by the conflict in Ukraine.”

• Significant investments in production alliance, manufactures record quantities: The Stihl Group invested a total of 331 million euros in 2021, 16.9 percent more than in the prior year. Of this amount, 91.8 percent was attributable to international production companies. “The effects of the coronavirus pandemic have once again shown how important flexible and resilient production and logistics chains are,” Traub said. “In 2021, we made unscheduled investments of several hundred million euros in our global production sites for the procurement of additional machinery and systems to make the international Stihl production alliance even more responsive moving forward and to meet persistently high global demand for products.” The largest investments were in cylinder production in Brazil, three-part bar production in the U.S., chain production in Switzerland, and the production of crankshafts and plastic in Germany. Stihl Inc., in Virginia Beach, USA, raised its powerhead production by 19 percent compared to the prior year; by stepping up employee training, the location was able to increase its flexibility in order to respond quickly to changes in the supply chain and in sales.

• New products for consumers and professionals on the way: Various production innovations are in the pipeline, the company reported, including: Stihl’s first backpack battery-operated blower, the Stihl BGA 300 (September 2022); the battery-operated Stihl HTA 50 pole pruner with a total length of 280 centimeters (May 2022); the new Stihl entry-level MS 162 gasoline-powered chainsaw (July 2022); four new professional gasoline-powered clearing saws – the Stihl FS 361 C-EM, FS 411 C-EM, FS 461 C-EM and FS 491 C-EM; and a new ECO formulation of Stihl’s MotoMix fuel for 2-stroke engines, containing 10-percent renewable raw materials.

Stihl also noted that the Stihl Timbersports calendar is back to full strength for 2022. The World Trophy will kick off the international season on May 28, 2022, at the Rathausplatz in Vienna, Austria, with the rookie world championship taking place one day before.

STIHL
www.stihlusa.com