04.04.2023

Record revenues for Liebherr

Liebherr has published its results for 2022 with group revenues increasing just over eight percent to €12.58 billion, a new record, with increases in 10 of its 13 divisions. Pre-tax profits however slumped from to €246 million, from €812 million in 2021- a decline of almost 70 percent. Due to all the reasons you might expect to hear, increases in raw material and energy costs at a time when a long order book makes passing them on to customers difficult. All compounded by supply chain issues causing production disruption. Liebherr says that while the economic situation has plenty of uncertainties, its outlook for 2023 is positive.

Mobile & Crawler cranes

Mobile and crawler crane sales improved 4.6 percent to just over €3 billion, driven by higher sales in North America, Africa and Middle East – mostly Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Sales in the Asia/Oceania region declined a little, in spite of improvements in Australia. Revenues in the European Union were flat, while sales in non-EU Europe fell back, with increases in the UK and Turkey insufficient to offset the decline in Russia. Finally Central and South America posted a slight increase. The company says that not only did it achieve record sales, but that it built and shipped more cranes in 2022 than in any time in its history.

Mobile crane sales by region
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Tower cranes

Tower crane sales in the year were flat at €561 million. The EU represents almost 74 percent of total tower crane revenues, but was held back this year by a sharp decline in France, mainly due to the sale of the Paris based Liebherr rental fleet to Hexagone Services/ Van der Spek at the end of 2021.
However, Asia/Oceania, Africa, North America and the Middle East all saw higher sales, driven largely by Australia, Hong Kong, India, Egypt and Israel. Once again revenues in non-EU Europe declined due to Russia, while sales in Central and South America were also lower. Its forecasts for 2023 are positive with EU sales expected to bounce back as growth continues elsewhere.

Tower crane sales by region
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Maritime cranes

Sales of maritime cranes were buoyant at €812 million, up 9.7 percent on the previous year. Sales are more evenly spread geographically compared to other cranes, due to the nature of the business. Sales improved in all markets apart from the EU and Asia/Oceania.

Maritime crane sales by region
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Vertikal Comment

Liebherr is a high quality machine which ploughs on regardless, in spite of a fall in profit it continued to invest in the business spending almost €1 billion, while increasing headcount to more than 51,000. One reason is that it has virtually no debt and owns most of its facilities.

We would be surprised if group sales next year did not break the €13 billion barrier, with total crane sales exceeding €4.5 billion – compared to €4.37 billion this year.