Growth in 11 of 13 product segments for Liebherr amid record results

The company’s latest annual results showed 11.5% growth in revenue for the business year to €14 billion (US$15.2 billion).

That performance surpassed its previous revenue record from 2022 by nearly €1.5 billion (US$1.6 billion).

Its operations in mobile cranes and crawlers was the largest business segment in terms of revenue at €3.5 billion (US$3.8 billion). That was followed by earthmoving on €2.7 billion (US$2.9 billion) and mining and aerospace and transportation systems, which each generated €1.5 billion (US$1.6 billion).

Revenue in the earthmoving division increased by 7.5% on the previous year, with the lion’s share of sales coming from the European Union (62.4% of sales). Other significant markets included North America (14.3%), Non-EU countries (12.8%) and Africa and the near Middle East (3.9%).

Revenue in the mobile and crawler cranes segment increased 14.7% year on year, with the European Union accounting for 42.2% of sales, followed by North America on 27.8%. Asia and Oceania was the third biggest market on 13% of sales.

Revenue in the tower cranes division fell by 9.1% to €510 million (US$553.6 million). In Liebherr’s mining arm, it was up 18.6% to €1.5 billion (US$1.6 billion). Revenue in the deep foundation machines division was flat at €395 million (US$428.8 million) and up 23.7% in the material handling technology segment to €725 million (US$787 million).

As a group, the company made a pre-tax profit of €668 million, which represented a 4.3% increase on the previous year.

In a statement, Liebherr said, “Business saw positive growth in virtually all sales regions. A satisfying revenue increase was registered in the European Union, which has traditionally been the Group’s strongest sales region.

“Revenues in Germany, France and Spain recorded particularly positive growth. The Group recorded a slight decline in the non-EU countries. The business year was also extremely encouraging in North America – driven by the USA and Mexico – as well as in Asia and Oceania. Revenue in the Africa, Near and Middle East region was also well above the previous year’s level. In Central and South America, revenue remained at the previous year’s level.”

Revealing that it had invested €634 million in research and development in 2023, the company said it was pursuing its objective to be a “major player in the advancement of technological innovation”. It said the bulk of the investment had been used to develop new products, with the fields of alternative drives, digitalisation and autonomy once again the main focus of R&D activities.

Looking ahead to the rest of 2024, Liebherr said it expected economic conditions to remain “challenging” but it had started the year with a “very solid” volume of orders.

It added. “The demand for large cranes and raw materials is growing as numerous economies around the world undergo transformation processes. This provides market opportunities for Liebherr. The Group anticipates growth in the USA and Australia, for instance.”