Swedish home appliance major Electrolux AB reported Friday a loss in its first quarter with weak volumes hurt by lower demand. Net sales, however, was higher than last year, and the company maintained its fiscal 2023 forecast. In Stockholm, Electrolux shares were gaining around 9 percent.
President and CEO Jonas Samuelson said, “Our number one priority for 2023 is a successful implementation of the Group-wide cost reduction and North America turnaround program…. The actions and performance in the first quarter are fully aligned with our 2023 full-year cost reduction plan. …Sustainability is at the core of our strategy and I am proud that we reached both of our 2025 science-based targets three years ahead of plan. The business and market outlooks for 2023 full year provided in the fourth quarter 2022 earnings report remain unchanged The company previously said the consumer sentiment in the new year is anticipated to continue to be negatively impacted by a high inflation and interest rate environment, although with regional differences.
Demand for core appliances in 2023 full-year is still expected to be negative for all regions except for the Asia-Pacific, Middle East and Africa region, which is assessed to be flat compared to 2022.
Based on this, volumes in 2023 are expected to decline year-over-year.
Over the mid-term, the company still projects to reach Group operating margin of at least 6 percent, both for the Group and for business area North America.
According to the firm, a key component is the estimated earnings contribution of above 7 billion kronor in 2024 compared to 2022 from the cost reduction program, whereof 4 billion kronor to 5 billion kronor is expected in 2023. The company also recorded commercial growth in all four business areasElectrolux further said it aims to increase aftermarket sales to approximately 10 percent of Group sales by 2025, from around 7 percent in 2022.
For the first quarter, loss was 588 million Swedish kronor, compared to last year’s profit of 950 million kronor. Loss per share were 2.18 kronor, compared to profit of 3.40 kronor a year ago.
Operating loss amounted to 256 million kronor, compared to profit of 1.58 billion kronor last year.
Adjusted operating income was 305 million kronor, compared to prior year’s 919 million kronor. Adjusted operating margin was 0.9 percent, compared to 3.1 percent a year ago.
The year-over-year decline in underlying operating income was mainly a result of lower volumesNet sales increased 9 percent to 32.73 billion kronor from 30.12 billion kronor last year. Organic sales growth was 2.2 percent. Price remained solid, while weaker market demand resulted in lower volumes for the Group as a whole.Stockholm, Electrolux shares were trading at 146 kronor, up 9.12 percent.
LG Electronics has been named the industry’s most sustainable home appliance brand in the just-published 2023 Green Builder Sustainable Brand Index.
The ranking is based on the weighted average of three factors: survey data used to gauge builders’ perception of a company’s sustainability efforts, data that tracks the number of positive brand mentions by consumers who have used or have heard about a product, and sentiment that tracks how favorably consumers view a particular company.LG topped all three survey components – and is the only company among any category winners to do that – largely due to its ever-advancing and continually popular Signature Kitchen Suite brand and consistent emphasis on energy efficiency and performance.”
This top ranking follows the announcement that LG earned two coveted 2023 Green Builder Sustainable Products of the Year distinctions,“recognizing innovations that go above and beyond in manufacturing and encourage sustainability through innovative technology or an improved version of a traditional technique.” The LG Multi F MAX with LGRED° multi-zone heat pump HVAC system and LG STUDIO induction cooktop with a flex cooking zone were singled out as Sustainable Products of the Year in the HVAC and appliance categories, respectivelyNamed 2023 ENERGY STAR® Partner of the Year by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, LG helps consumers take climate action in impactful ways. For example, ENERGY STAR certified LG clothes washers and dishwashers purchased by American consumers in the past year are expected to save more than 35 billion gallons of water over their product life, enough to fill 53,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools.“ENERGY STAR Most Efficient 2022” LG refrigerators, washers, dryers, room air conditioners and computer monitors are expected to save more than 482 million pounds of CO2 over the life of these products.
Haier SmartHome released its annual report for 2022 fiscal year, reporting growth of 7.2% year-on-year, with sales revenue of 32.6 billion €. Despite challenging market environment, Haier Smart Home’s overseas business continue to grow, recording a 10.3% increase in turnover compared to last year.
In the European market, we continued to be the fastest growing Company, recording a double-digit revenue growth of approximately 20% year-over-year, achieving sales of 3.2 billion €.
These strong performance results are even more relevant because they have been achieved in a more complex market than expected caused by high inflation and slowing consumer demand.
Elica BoD approves the Q1 2023 results. “Despite a significant market decline, we are pleased to report results in line with expectations. Our approach has been focused on the long-term value, allowing us to defend margins in a market with low volumes and significant inflation. Additionally, we have continued our transformation and expanded our offerings to become more Cooking. In this environment, the “Own Brand” business is performing better than the market and our “Motors Division” continued to grow. Although the year ahead may be challenging, we are confident that we will come out even stronger and well prepared for the future.” commented – Giulio Cocci Elica CEO.
BSH has announced the death of former colleague Colin Blake, who has passed away following a very short illness.retired from BSH in 2014, but will be remembered as BSH UK & Ireland’s longest-serving chief financial officer working with Uwe Hanneck to bring Bosch, Neff, Siemens and Gaggenau brands to the country
German family-owned appliance brand Kaiser opened its first showroom yesterday in London’s Kings Road.
The showroom enjoys a high-profile corner location on the iconic road that is home to many interior design and kitchen showrooms and is just a stone’s throw from the prestigious Chelsea Harbour design district
From left to right: BSH management team – Lars Schubert, Dr Gerhard Dambach, Dr Matthias Metz, Dr Alexander Dony and Rudolf Klötscher
Leading German appliance brand BSH has celebrated record growth for a third year running, achieving sales of €15.9bn in the 2022 financial year, despite challenges BSH managed a growth of 2.5% on the previous year (currency-adjusted of 4.2%) despite supply bottlenecks, increased material prices and higher logistics and energy costs.
In addition, the company said that over the two previous years, it has benefited from a boom in the consumer goods business caused by the pandemic. This increased demand fell last year, while inflation rose sharply at the same time.
CEO Dr Matthew Metz commented: “Thanks to the loyalty of our consumers and trading partners, our strong global brand portfolio, our innovative products and services and the great commitment of our employees, we have mastered the past year well.
“Our aspiration for the current year: We want to continue growing profitably in all regions and product categories. In addition to managing the significantly increased costs – for example in the areas of energy, material and personnel – the focus is on making our supply chains even more resilient.”Stable growth in all regions In the Americas region including the USA and Canada, BSH once again showed above-average growth in the 2022 financial year, with an increase of 16%. While in Europe, it remained No.1, despite delivery bottlenecks and increased energy and material prices, which were particularly noticeable in this region.
For the entire Asia-Pacific/Africa region, BSH achieved sales growth of 2% compared to the previous year. Due to special effects, such as restrictions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, BSH recorded a decline of 4% in China. On the other hand, sales in the growth markets increased at an above-average rate, particularly in India and the Middle East.
With a clear view of the future, BSH is setting the course for future growth today. “Our central concern is to understand local needs in the markets and to develop and produce home appliances that meet consumer needs and improve the quality of life in their homes. For us, market proximity and international growth go hand in hand,” Dr Metz explains.
“At the same time, we are expanding globally. From 2024 we will be manufacturing refrigerators for the North American market in a new factory in Mexico. We have also invested in the Asia-Pacific and Africa region: In India, we have expanded our production in Chennai. And last week we celebrated the ground-breaking ceremony for our stove factory in Cairo.
Product categories cooling and dishwashing with strong growth The strongest sales driver in the past financial year was the cooling product category with an increase of 8.8% on the previous year, closely followed by the sink product category, which was able to increase 8%. Cooking, the top-selling product category, grew by 2.8%. Here, however, the market was waiting for an important model change, a new oven series, which is due in spring 2023. Laundry care and consumer products, the small home appliance division, saw declines of 6% and 6.2%, respectively.
BSH customer service with its comprehensive range of services achieved a 2.2% increase in sales. Around 15,000 employees work in over 50 countries every day. 83% of all repairs can be done right away. This performance is also reflected in the Net Promoter Score (NPS), which continuously measures satisfaction with customer service, BSH said. The score rose again by two points to the outstanding value of 73 points. The success of customer service can also be seen in regular awards. In 2022, the German daily newspaper “Welt” awarded German customer service for the eleventh time in a row for first-class service from the Bosch and Siemens brands. The Bosch brand even emerges from the ranking as No. 1 in the entire household appliance industry, closely followed by Siemens in second placeIn 2022, BSH presented a range of innovative digital products and solutions, it said. The new premium oven series from Bosch and Siemens (shown top) was among these, while the Smart Kitchen Dock presented last year bundles a wide variety of Alexa and Home Connect functions and thus enables access to all services of the Home Connect platform as well as to recipe apps with smart cooking support such as Kitchen Stories, the company added.
For the Chinese market, BSH uses air quality sensors from Bosch in its refrigerators. These recognise bad smells immediately and automatically clean the air in the refrigerator with the help of active oxygen. In this way, 99% of all bacteria and viruses and 90% of all odours can be eliminated, the company claims. In addition, the networked device informs consumers via smartphone when food has gone bad.
The Bosch Group – and thus also BSH – is a member of the “Connectivity Standards Alliance”, an association of numerous large companies that are simplifying the smart home world with the new Matter connection standard. In the future, it will be possible to operate Matter-enabled household appliances from BSH and household appliances from other manufacturers in just one app.
In addition, expenditure on research and development increased by 5.3% compared to the previous year – BSH invested a total of €840m euros, which BSH is using to promote digital, consumer-oriented products and innovations.
Sustainable solutions along the entire value chain BSH has been developing and manufacturing CO₂-neutral at all locations worldwide since 2020. One of the biggest levers for this is the constant increase in energy efficiency in production. In 2022, BSH saved around 33.4 GWh of energy with more than 230 energy efficiency measures worldwide. Self-generated green electricity is increasingly covering electricity requirements. BSH has set itself the goal of covering 100% of its electricity needs with green electricity by 2030.
In order to make the value chain more sustainable, the home appliance manufacturer is working with partners on new solutions. These include the use of recycled plastics and so-called green steel. These materials are used, for example, in the new Bosch Green Collection refrigerator, which will be launched in Europe in May. Thanks to the use of recycled, CO₂-reduced and CO₂-neutral materials, the resulting CO₂ footprint from the material is a third lower than that of the identically constructed comparison model with conventional materials
Smart home specialist Midea has recently previewed its new Mhelios service, which acts as an intelligent energy management solution for homes Mhelios has been described as an energy management solution, with a range of features to help homeowners have a more environmentally-friendly lifestyle.
The service can be paired with devices and facilities around the house such as solar panels, smart home appliances and energy storage systems too. By doing this, Mhelios can apparently get the most mileage out of green electricity around the house.
The system also features a smart energy management centre which reportedly has 98.2% efficiency, along with I-V curve scan technology and optimisation with solar energy. If a homeowner suffers an unexpected power outage and does not have access to electricity, the smart energy manager can offer unbalanced off-grid output technology and backup performance.
Beyond that, Mhelios uses artificial intelligence of things technology to track and trace a household’s energy usage. It also provides users with “intelligent control” of a home’s heat pumps and systems for heating, ventilation, and air conditioning. Surplus photovoltaic power is converted and reused throughout the home, whether that is via heating, hot water or even space cooling.
Users can download a companion app to manage Mhelios, with options to configure energy storage, as well as monitor usage and cost savings.
Midea has said it has placed sustainability at the heart of its long-term company vision, committing to a Green Strategy that should make the company carbon neutral by the year 2060
Midea has launched a new line of built-in appliances under the Midea brand in partnership with the important furniture chain, Mondo Convenienza. Designed to adapt to all the needs of the contemporary kitchen, Midea ovens, hobs, refrigerators and dishwashers are designed by conceiving each product as part of a single ecosystem, in which each line is united by the same aesthetic language for the benefit of functionality that every family can find in their own home.Mondo Convenienza is an Italian company specialized in the large-scale distribution of furniture and furnishing accessories
The new headquarters measure 7 thousand square meters and accommodate 400 peopleThe new headquarters of Whirlpool Corporation was inaugurated in Milan on April 20th . At the center of an area in strong development such as the Certosa district, the building (totally Carbon free) is spread over more than 7 thousand square meters, distributed over two floors, for over 400 people and more than 100 different nationalities.The great novelty of the headquarters is represented by the new World of Whirlpool: a real journey through design innovations and latest generation technologies. 500 m2 dedicated to the group’s major European brands and their various narratives, in a journey through the company’s most innovative products.
Whirlpool EMEA CEO Giles Morel inaugurates the company’s Milan headquarters. At his side Giulia Pelucchi, President of the Municipality 8 of Milan and Stefano Sirolli, CEO of the real estate developer Real Step.
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