2020 Financial Report: Häfele sees 7.3 percent decline in revenue | Third quarter recovery restores confidence

The international Häfele Group for hardware technology, electronic access control systems and LED lighting, saw its revenue decline 7.3 percent down to 1.39 billion Euro in 2020. Though the Coronavirus pandemic impacted revenue earlier in the year, the company experienced a significant recovery in the third quarter, which restored levels to those seen before the crisis. Group revenue grew by over 5% (adjusted for currency effects). This allowed Häfele’s company management to keep the impact of the global crisis within manageable limits.

Häfele’s presence in 150 countries worldwide helped stabilize the company’s figures throughout the crisis-ridden year of the pandemic. The parent company’s business in Germany remained somewhat steady, recording a decline of 1.3%. Some regions suffered larger drops in revenue, with Western Europe reporting a decline of 9.3% and South and South East Asia reporting a 20% drop. Other regions, East Asia, Oceania and Eastern Europe, closed slightly ahead of the previous year’s figures.

Though the company saw a decline in revenue due to a global shutdown of business and tourist travel, Häfele’s long-standing relationship with joiners and cabinet makers proved itself to be extremely crisis-resistant throughout the world. Following a sharp drop, the furniture industry also saw an equally rapid recovery. The impact of the pandemic was much easier to manage thanks to this upswing in business toward the end of the year.

Outlook 2021: Cautiously Optimistic

In view of the lessons learned throughout 2020, the company will proceed cautiously into the new financial year. Having survived and recovered from the financial crisis of 2009, Häfele is confident it can overcome any potential new challenges posed by the lingering Coronavirus pandemic.

“As all of us have found out, the pandemic has taken its own unpredictable, uncontrollable dynamic course”, is how Managing Director, Sibylle Thierer, sums it up. “Häfele has the courage, the creativity and the energy to emerge strengthened from a crisis. We’ll also tackle the crisis of 2020-21 with optimism and, as a family business with a long-term mindset, we’ll also look for the opportunities that open up for us.”

Häfele’s performance for all of 2020 was better than what had been predicted in May. The Häfele Group responded to the pandemic by adopting measures to secure the supply chain and more closely interlink the Group’s companies. Throughout 2020, Häfele adapted to the demands of the pandemic in order to improve the supply of products to customers, which allowed the company to deliver throughout the year without any notable interruptions in production.