GERMANY - In 2020, the Häfele Group recorded a sales decline of 7.3 percent to EUR 1.39 billion.

Against the background of a significant recovery from the third quarter onwards, the company management stated that the effects of the global crisis could be kept within manageable limits.

Group sales in the fourth quarter (October to December) 2020 were back at the previous year's level. Adjusted for currency effects, this was even more than 5% growth compared to the same period in the previous year.

“As we have all learned, the pandemic has its own dynamic that is difficult to predict and influence,” says company director Sibylle Thierer. In the entire 2020 reporting year, Häfele developed better than forecast in May. The upswing in autumn had such a positive effect that the massive effects of the pandemic on the Häfele business, which had been forecast in the second quarter, could be significantly limited overall, according to Thierer.

In light of this experience, the company intends to cautiously continue to drive on sight in 2021. Planned investments in the amount of 60 million euros should be viewed primarily from a strategic point of view and will flow into logistics, IT-supported processes and new services that will ease the burden on customers.