- 2019 turnover reaches EUR 13.2 billion, almost matching the previous year’s level
- Business stable in Europe, makes gains in North America, turnover down substantially in Asia
- During 2020, all sites of BSH will become climate-neutral
- Investments in digital technologies remain high
MUNICH, Germany, March 17, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Despite considerable challenges in 2019, BSH Hausgeräte GmbH (BSH) maintained its position as a world leader in the home appliance industry. Turnover, at EUR 13.2 billion, reached the third-highest level in the company’s history, though down 1.2 percent from the prior year. Research and Development expenditures rose to EUR 713 million in 2019. At 5.4 percent of turnover, they surpassed the record from 2018 (5.0 percent).
“2019 was a challenging year for BSH. Putting our Hardware+ strategy into action across the board, as we address present and future consumer needs, helped bring the year to a satisfying close overall, in spite of difficult conditions,” said BSH CEO Uwe Raschke.
A look at the regions
Despite the challenging market conditions and competitive situation, the home appliance manufacturer’s 2019 turnover in Europe (Western, Central and Eastern Europe) rose nearly a full percent from the prior year. BSH thus clearly defended its lead in the European market. It particularly remains the uncontested leader in its home market of Germany, where it gained further ground – as it also did in Southeast Europe.
In Asia-Pacific BSH saw turnover slide by about 10 percent, mainly because of declining business in China. Regardless of that development, BSH is still the largest non-Chinese home appliance manufacturer in this market. Market consolidation, more intense competition, and a sharp rise in online commerce remain the major challenges in this region. At the same time, there were substantial gains in Australia, India, and the Southeast Asian countries.
Appliance turnover in the Americas (North America including Mexico, Latin America) grew nearly 10 percent, enjoying a particular boost from BSH’s successful builder business – in which the company outfits entire large property development projects with home appliances. BSH foresees big future chances of becoming even more attractive to consumers in this market, thanks to connected appliances and the company’s broad-based Home Connect ecosystem.
At the end of 2019, BSH had 58,200 employees around the world, 4.6 percent fewer than a year earlier. Most of this decrease resulted from market developments in China.
BSH will invest more into climate and environmental protection
During 2020, all sites of BSH will become climate-neutral. By expanding renewable energy production and in making production more energy-efficient, the company will save 22.5 GWh of its energy consumption (equivalent to 2.8 percent of its total energy consumption from 2017), and expand in-house renewable energy production capacity by 2.5 GWh. These steps will reduce BSH’s CO2 emissions by 5,000 metric tons. In that connection, BSH will be investing some EUR 100 million in climate neutrality by 2030, and will reduce CO2 emissions from its own production by another 20 percent.
BSH has been investing great efforts in protecting the climate and the environment for many years now. Besides developing and selling energy- and water-saving appliances, BSH now extends its perspective to the entire value chain. With what is known as a circular economy model, in the long term BSH intends to minimize the environmental impact of all its business operations by recycling resources and using them in an ecologically sound way – whether in development and production, consumer use, or retrieval and reuse of employed resources and materials. That will result in less waste and lower emissions.
Research and Development expenditures remain at record high
In 2019, BSH increased its expenditures on research and development to EUR 713 million, equivalent to 5.4 percent of total turnover. The focus remains on digital technologies such as software to control connected home appliances, voice control, machine learning and artificial intelligence. In 2020, the company will be putting the first appliances with its new microprocessor-based SystemMaster technology on the market – including Cookit, the multifunctional kitchen machine with cooking function, already introduced at IFA 2019. SystemMaster enables consumers to use digital services on their connected appliances, to download apps and programs, and to update software. Such updates will allow consumers to use future BSH innovations on appliances they have already bought.
Further expansion of the digital ecosystem Home Connect
BSH expanded its Home Connect digital ecosystem in 2019, recruiting additional partners around the world. At present, 42 partners in 40 countries offer their services via the Home Connect platform. Supported devices will soon also include smart watches from a variety of makers. They will enable users to access the Home Connect app by way of these wearables, in addition to their smartphones and voice assistants – so they can conveniently take care of tasks like starting the coffee machine or preheating the oven. By working together with Google Assistant, Home Connect has also expanded its voice integration. The Home Connect app, relaunched in 2019, offers consumers even more functions, more time saving, and more personal convenience.
2020 outlook
“We’re well positioned to keep performing well, thanks to our many new products and digital solutions,” says CEO Uwe Raschke. “But due to a wide range of economic and political uncertainties, as well as the unforeseeable consequences of the coronavirus disease, we can already tell today that 2020 will be at least as challenging as the previous year.”
As already announced, Dr. Carla Kriwet will take over as CEO of BSH as of July 1, 2020. Uwe Raschke will then concentrate once again on his duties on the Robert Bosch Board of Management.
Further information about BSH is available at http://www.bsh-group.com. Press materials can be found in our BSH Newsroom at https://www.bsh-group.com/newsroom. Find out more about BSH’s current topics worldwide on our social media channel Stories at http://stories.bsh-group.com.
About BSH
BSH Hausgeräte GmbH, with a total turnover of some EUR 13.2 billion and more than 58,000 employees in 2019, is a global leader in the home appliance industry. The company’s brand portfolio includes eleven well-known appliance brands like Bosch, Siemens, Gaggenau and Neff as well as the ecosystem brand Home Connect and service brands like Kitchen Stories. BSH produces at 40 factories and is represented in some 50 countries.
BSH is a Bosch Group company.
Contact for press inquiries:
BSH Hausgeräte GmbH
Head of Global Corporate Press, Public Relations
Julia Henry
Tel.: +49 (0)89 4590-5814
Email: julia.henry@bshg.com