The Blanco Group has revealed it increased its turnover by 2% to a total of €493million in the past financial year. The company says that while it was able to benefit from the pandemic-related boom in the construction and renovation sector due to the 'cocooning effect', the second half of 2022 was particularly challenging due to the prevailing global conditions. Nevertheless, Blanco CEO Frank Gfrörer, pictured, says that the company has succeeded in becoming fit for the future: "The 2022 financial year was a year of transformation for us. We used it to set a strategic and operational course for the future and market the BLANCO UNIT as a high-grade system unit.”
Overall, the year was marked by the war in Ukraine, fraught supply conditions on procurement markets, drastically increased energy and transport costs, followed by rising inflation and declining consumer momentum. Against this background, the company says it decided in spring 2022 to withdraw from its operational business in Russia and dissolve its subsidiary there. The company also responded to the situation by implementing a mid-year price increase for the first time and with measures to save costs and energy in production and logistics.
The company had 1,587 full-time employees worldwide at the end of the year. "They have all contributed to the success of the business by working towards our common goal of making the water place a sought-after brand product in high-end kitchens. The Management Board would like to express our heartfelt thanks for this," said CFO Rüdiger Böhle. "With a clear course for its strategic direction, Blanco consistently built up expertise last year, both through a comprehensive development programme for the workforce, tailored to the requirements of the transformation, and through targeted new hires."
According to CEO Frank Gfrörer, the company expects business volume to grow modestly in 2023, given that the prevailing global conditions and their consequences are difficult to assess. "Nevertheless, we are doing everything we can to inspire people to equip their new kitchens with the BLANCO UNIT to make life simpler and better with convenient added benefits such as refined drinking water for every taste, digital ordering services for consumables and handy utensils for drinking, preparation and cleaning."
