uvex group generates sales growth of 5%
The uvex group can look back on a successful financial year 2018/2019. The family enterprise has consolidated its position with growth of 5% to EUR 475 million. Both subgroups – the uvex safety group and uvex sports group – have experienced dynamic growth and have therefore helped the uvex group to exceed the high sales level recorded in the previous year (2017/2018: EUR 453 million).
Michael Winter, Managing Partner of the uvex group, explains: "The successful development of our corporate group is down, on the one hand, to our highly diverse fields of business, product areas and global regions, while on the other, our intense work on product innovations, such as those with digital features, for protecting people in sport, at work and in their leisure pursuits, has really paid off." To this day, the family enterprise headquartered in Fürth develops, manufactures and validates its innovative technologies predominantly at its own manufacturing plants in Germany and throughout the rest of Europe. A further strength of the medium-sized enterprise is its technology transfer between the segments of sport and occupational safety. Many product milestones, such as uvex ski goggles for elite athletes, have been developed on the back of innovative lens technology created by the uvex safety group. Michael Winter continues: "Our aim is to use this unique innovative capacity to continue developing market leading products and services into the future."
In financial year 2018/2019, the uvex group was again affected by ongoing challenges in the global macroeconomic landscape. Trade conflicts and sanctions, the profound structural change in the automotive industry and the uncertainty over Brexit have had a significant impact on the occupational health and safety segment. The traditional family enterprise, whose roots date back over 90 years, is also confronted by new framework conditions in the sport and leisure segment. “Climate change means that good winters are likely to become increasingly rare", says Michael Winter, explaining the consistent diversification strategy pursued by uvex away from winter sports and towards the summer months for cycling and equestrian pursuits. "This makes the results from the previous financial year all the more pleasing", he commented further.
uvex safety group profits from growth opportunities on the global market
In the 2018/2019 financial year, the uvex safety group increased sales by 6% to EUR 352 million and therefore remains the driving force of the family enterprise’s development: a total of 74% of group sales is now attributable to uvex safety group sales. The hearing protection segment registered a slight decline, while a slight sales increase was recorded in the area of safety gloves. The uvex safety group achieved excellent growth rates in the areas of safety shoes and safety goggles, head, respiratory and laser protection in addition to protective clothing. The uvex safety group has additionally gained further ground in the US market during the past financial year via a strategic shareholding in the US partner company HexArmor. Alongside North America, high growth markets also include South Africa and Europe.
uvex sports group secures growth on the back of cycling boom
In the previous financial year, the sport and leisure segment generated sales totalling EUR 131 million – this equates to sales growth of 5%. The market environment was extraordinarily challenging for the uvex and ALPINA brands. In the winter sport segment, sales of ski helmets and ski goggles continued to decline. The reason for this is that pretty much 100% of winter sports fans ensure that they are kitted out with a protective helmet when out on the slopes. This has created a saturated market. In addition, the increasingly mild winters caused by climate change have also played a part. A completely different picture emerges for cycling: this segment has continued to boom, particularly in the area of urban mobility (e.g. e-bikes and e-scooters), producing strong growth rates. The uvex group also achieved high growth rates in the area of equestrian sports in the riding helmet and gloves product groups. Sales at the Filtral group were more or less on a par with the prior year.
For the current financial year, the uvex group’s overarching aim is again to secure global, value-oriented growth. "We have every reason to look towards the future with optimism", says Michael Winter, who sees the expansion of the employer brand and new digital concepts as further key pillars of the corporate group's success. For this reason, the uvex group continued to make long-term investments in digital working processes and tools, in addition to ensuring that the group provides a modern working environment with attractive benefits for its approximately 2,700 employees around the world.
