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Speaking at the Liebherr Information Event for the international construction trade press held in Leoben, Austria on 24 October, Stefan Heissler, Member of the Board of Directors of Liebherr-International, said that despite a difficult market environment in 2016, Liebherr Group achieved the third-highest turnover in the Group's history, with total sales of €9.009 billion. Heissler said the Liebherr Group ended 2016 with more than 42,300 employees and invested €751 million back into its business throughout the year.
“In 2017, we’ve seen market conditions improve along with the overall global economy. We expect sustained growth to finish out 2017 and into 2018, both in industrialised countries and in emerging and developing economies. In fact, the
“Between more favourable market conditions and our continued investment in growth, the Liebherr Group is on track for a record turnover in 2017.”
Heissler said that in H1 2017, Liebherr Group’s turnover was nearly €4.8 billion. Compared to its turnover of €4.5 billion in first half 2016, this represents a 6.4% year-on-year increase.
So far this year, Heissler said growth by region had been varied. Significant growth in Eastern Europe and moderate growth in Western Europe has balanced decreased turnover in the Middle East, Africa and the Americas.
Compared to 2016—and even compared to previous years—the Liebherr Group has seen a significant jump in incoming orders. While orders in past years hovered around €4.3 to 4.4 billion, in the first six months of 2017, Liebherr Group saw more than €5.2 billion in orders.
Heissler continued: “Looking forward through the end of 2017, we expect a strong finish to what we anticipate to be a record year. We expect nearly all of our product divisions to improve, with the most significant growth coming from our Earthmoving, Mobile Cranes, Tower Cranes, Mining, and Tools and Automation Systems divisions.
“To ensure continued growth, we will also continue to invest substantially in our international production facilities, and distribution and service network. In 2017, we will invest €733 million in total. That corresponds to a 7.4% investment rate, which remains in line with past years.
“We will also continue to invest in our workforce. We anticipate adding 2,240 new employees by the end of 2017, for a total of more than 44,550 employees worldwide.”
The Liebherr Information Event saw the assembled world construction trade press shown a prototype 100tonne, diesel electric drive T 236 off-highway mining truck. Also suited to large quarry applications, the model is said to be the first in the 100tonne class with a 4-comer, oil immersed braking system. The Event also saw the showcasing of Liebherr’s new PR 766 crawler excavator designed for mining, large quarries and challenging earthmoving applications. The 50tonne class machine is driven by a Stage IV/Tier 4 emission standard 310kW Liebherr 8-cylinder V-engine. Like its PR 764 predecessor, the model also boasts Liebherr’s hydrostatic travel drive, said to ensure maximum efficiency combined with low fuel consumption. Liebherr also revealed some of its 8 new telescopic handlers being introduced from January to November 2018. They will be supplied in two different series models, separated according to different requirements.
