In 2020, the Liebherr Group achieved a turnover of €10,341 million. Compared to the previous year, the company posted a decline of €1,409 million, or 12 %. Following several successful years, and in the context of last year’s extraordinary conditions, this is considered satisfactory.
Despite the modest slowdown of the global economy, Liebherr registered a strong volume of orders in the first quarter of 2020. Starting at the end of the first quarter, the coronavirus pandemic began to affect business activities in many markets. This also had an impact on the Group’s sales revenues. Revenues in the earthmoving, material handling technology, deep foundation machines, mobile and crawler cranes, tower cranes, concrete technology and mining product segments were 10.4 % lower than in the previous year at €6,848 million. Revenues outside construction and mining machines also fell. With the other product segments, including maritime cranes, aerospace and transportation systems, gear technology and automation systems, refrigeration and freezing, as well as components and hotels. Liebherr achieved a turnover of €3,493 million, a 15 % decrease compared to the previous year.
There was a downturn in sales in the European Union, which has traditionally been the Group’s strongest sales region. This was primarily due to declining sales in Germany and France; by contrast, business grew in Austria and Poland. Sales in non-EU countries as well as in North America also declined. Central and South America, Africa, and the Near and Middle East reported significantly lower turnover than the year before. Meanwhile, business was stable throughout the year in Asia and Oceania. This was thanks largely to strong demand from China and Australia. (€1.00 = US$1.20 at time of publication.)
