Liebherr invests hard for long-term growth as group sales slip to just under US$12.4bn (€9bn)

The giant construction equipment, mining, cranes and automation systems manufacturer Liebherr recorded group sales of just under US$12.4bn (€9bn) in 2013, $137m (€100m) down on the previous year. The privately-owned company suffered a 4% drop in turnover in its construction and mining division, which turned over $7.7bn (€5.62bn) last year.
March 4, 2014
The giant construction equipment, mining, cranes and automation systems manufacturer 718 Liebherr recorded group sales of just under US$12.4bn (€9bn) in 2013, $137m (€100m) down on the previous year.

The privately-owned company suffered a 4% drop in turnover in its construction and mining division, which turned over $7.7bn (€5.62bn) last year.

This was not the company’s poorest-performing area, however. Even worse were the earthmoving and mining divisions, where business dropped year-on-year by 9% and 20% respectively across the world.

Elsewhere, Liebherr’s other construction divisions were up with mobile cranes growing turnover by 7%, construction cranes (tower and crawler models) by 12% and concrete technology by 4%.

This rather mixed picture does not look like changing in the immediate future. “We expect a similar turnover in 2014, with maybe a slight increase,” Stefan Heissler, a director of Liebherr-International told reporters at Conexpo 2014.

Despite the trading outlook, Liebherr invested more than $1bn (€800m) across the group last year. This included a $109m (€80m) investment in a new re-manufacturing centre in Austria, to re-build mining equipment components.

And Liebherr has also set up a new division, Liebherr Components Technology, to market engines, fuel injection systems, bearings, software, hydraulic and electrical components to other manufacturers in a range of industry sectors.
www.liebherr.com
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