The entire home appliance industry has “fundamentally changed” as it reels from “persistent global economic and geopolitical crises” says BSH boss.
In its annual results, BSH revealed that it had generated €14.8 billion (£12.7bn) in 2023, a decline of 7% compared to 2022. The region of Europe saw a shorter 6.3% decrease.
Despite this, the company said it had spent a record 5.7% (£726 million) of its annual turnover on research and development and a further 4% (£513mn) on investments.
“With a record total of around 850 million euros, we are investing more in research and development than ever before, thus laying the foundation for achieving our ambitious growth targets as one of the world’s leading manufacturers of home appliances,” said CFO Gerhard Dambach.
Like many home appliance businesses, the manufacturer said it is “looking back on a challenging year” after geopolitical crises, the tense economic situation around the world, and the resulting stagnation in the global home appliance market created difficult conditions.
While in previous years BSH had benefitted from a pandemic-related boom in the consumer goods business, high inflation, massive rises in interest rates, and the resulting worldwide collapse in real estate markets put a significant damper on the consumer climate in 2023.
“The persistent global economic and geopolitical crises have fundamentally changed the conditions for the entire home appliance industry”, explained CEO Dr. Matthias Metz (pictured). “In order to further strengthen BSH’s competitiveness and finance the necessary investments, it is necessary to keep a close eye on the cost situation and to gear the associated personnel planning to the future.
“In a challenging environment, BSH has once again demonstrated its resilience, with overall performance significantly better than the market. That is mainly thanks to the dedicated commitment of our around 60,000 employees around the world.”
BSH also reported a year-on-year 11.3% decline in turnover in North America and China saw a 10.5% decrease. In its ‘Emerging Markets’ region, which includes areas such as Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and the African continent, BSH turnover was down only slightly, by 2.2%.
However, by leaving the fully completed withdrawal from the Russia business out of the accounts, BSH said it recorded “slight turnover growth”, driven by the positive development in Turkey.
Even though the past year was challenging, Metz remains optimistic about the future. “Our company has been successful for over 55 years and is in a robust position in the current economic environment – with a clear roadmap for the future, outstanding brands, convincing innovations, and a strong team.
“We again want to take an active part in shaping the market in 2024, inspire consumers, and lead our customers to success in order to achieve profitable growth in all regions.”