Sedus Stoll Group has announced another impressive set of financial results with an increase in revenue to €212.3 million (2017: €191.2 million), surpassing the €200 million milestone by a large margin for the first time in its history, and a profit of €9.8 million. As well as a 2.2 percent overall increase in the total market volume for its office furniture business, the firm enjoyed an increase in new orders of 5.3 percent, consolidating its position as one of the most successful and innovative firms in the European market.
Sedus’s seating business (office seating, collaborative and contract furniture) reported an increase in new orders of 0.5 percent to €100.5 million compared to the previous year. This was 1.8 percentage points ahead of the market trend for office seating (-1.3 percent). The firm’s systems business (office furniture, desks and cabinet systems) saw a significant increase of 12.6 percent to €85.9 million.
The total value of new orders hit €85.1 million for the entire export market, and the increase of 7.6 percent was also a significant improvement on the previous year. The share of exports among the total volume of new orders amounted to 45.7 percent in the Sedus subgroup, increasing by 0.8 percent as a result of the slightly lower increase in orders from Germany.
For the group’s Klo?ber business, a supplier of office seating, conference and lounge furniture, there was an increase of 1.5 percent, outperforming the prevailing market conditions for office seating (-1.3 percent). While the order volume in Germany was comparable to the previous year, exports (share of total volume: 27.8 percent) increased by 7.4 percent.
Investments in all areas
The Sedus Stoll Group’s investments in tangible and intangible assets totaled €15.8 million in the 2018 financial year, which constituted a dramatic increase of €9.2 million compared to the previous year.
The Sedus Smart Office is not just an outstanding workplace for the company’s own employees, but is also a test laboratory and showpiece for international customers
The sum total of investments made by Sedus Stoll AG came to €12.9 million. As in the previous year, the most substantial investment of €8.0 million was attributable to the various construction activities in relation to the expansion of the company headquarters in Dogern, where staff were also able to start using the new office building in April this year. Around 100 employees from twelve different areas now work together in a single space under one roof, in a generously proportioned environment. The Sedus Smart Office (pictured) is not just an outstanding workplace for the company’s own employees, but is also a test laboratory and showpiece for international customers.
A total of €1.9 million was invested by Sedus Systems GmbH, located in Geseke (East Westphalia, Germany) in 2018. ? A large part of these funds were invested in the construction of a new multifunctional building, which will be ready for use at some point in 2019.
The extensive modernisation and construction work at the Dogern and Geseke sites underscore the company management’s commitment to Germany as its centre of business.
The Sedus Stoll Group’s total number of employees has increased from 873 to a total of 935 (excluding trainees), of whom 533 currently work in Dogern, 292 in Geseke, and 110 at Klo?ber in Owingen.
Good times ahead
The various political and economic events that subdued the economy in the first quarter of 2019 and the more cautious economic forecasts that followed also had some negative effects on the market for office furniture.
Nevertheless, the new year got off to a very good start for Sedus, meaning that annual order targets for the year as a whole will still be met.
The management team cites the numerous product innovations launched by Sedus and Klo?ber at the Orgatec trade show last October as the main impetus for this positive performance, the majority of which have been in full-scale production since Spring.