Endress+Hauser Group Reports Performance, Growth

Summary

The Endress+Hauser Group held its annual media briefing in Basel, Switzerland, on June 4, 2023. The company’s leaders said the instrumentation maker performed above the industry average and grew its headcount by 700.

According to Matthias Altendorf, Endress+Hauser Group’s chief executive officer (CEO), Endress+Hauser performed well in 2022 despite it being a year of major contradictions. He cited Russia’s attack on Ukraine, the subsequent threat of energy shortages, high inflation in many countries, and the resulting interest rate increases, plus supply and logistics chains that continued to be strained, as well as renewed Covid lockdowns in China.

“Rarely has our business environment been marked by so many simultaneous challenges as it was in 2022. Our business was much more stable than was to be expected under these conditions,” Altendorf said.
Incoming orders remained strong during 2022, which enabled E+H to achieve double-digit sales growth, with exchange rates and price increased stimulating sales figures. This, on the other hand, put pressure on profits. Consequently, net income was lower than the previous year.

Altendorf emphasized that E+H is on solid financial footing. “Our equity ratio increased further, investments were at an all-time high, and we significantly increased the headcount,” he said.

Endress+Hauser delivered 2.9 million instruments in 2022. Virtually all industries contributed to the solid performance, even more so in the cyclical sectors—chemical, oil and gas, mining, and minerals and metals—than the non-cyclical, which includes food and beverage, water and wastewater, life sciences, and power and energy.

“The project business experienced above-average growth, which resulted in a higher volume of orders on our books,” Altendorf said. “Even on a regional basis, the news was almost all positive. One-fourth of our sales centers recorded sales growth of more than 30%.”

Altendorf attributed the solid performance to the E+H brand of process instrumentation. “The sensor business of our subsidiary Innovative Sensor Technology IST AG also recorded strong growth. In the area of laboratory instrumentation from Analytik Jena, we experienced a consolidation as expected,” he said.

However, E+H didn’t just maintain its ability to deliver. It also delivered 84% of all orders to its customers at the time promised. “Although significantly below our target, that was still an outstanding rate given the circumstances of last year,” Altendorf said. “We were successful because we have continually made targeted investments in our worldwide logistics network.”

Continued growth

“Measured in euros, sales grew by 16.4%,” added Dr. Luc Schultheiss, chief financial officer. “We believe we are, once again, performing above the industry average and have gained market share. Incoming orders exceeded sales growth by around 8%. Sales growth from the acquisition of Senstech and Infrasolid was insignificant. Excluding the effects of currencies and acquisitions, the Group achieved organic growth of 11.6%. Measured in Swiss francs, sales grew by 8.1%. Unlike the euro, the Swiss franc appreciated against most currencies.”

According to Schultheiss, the headcount grew by 700. “That means we hired slightly fewer new people than planned. Most of this growth can be traced to hiring in production, which allows us to deal with the considerable increase in units produced. The worldwide shortage of skilled workers prevented us from hiring even more people. One-third of the new positions were created in the Basel region where we maintain large production sites,” he added.

With a global workforce of 15,817, E+H claims the pillars of its success are proximity to its customers; high-quality, innovative products; worldwide sales and production; and a human-centric culture. The company strives to future-proof its workplaces as places for creativity and innovation. It believes digitalization is changing the working world.