The Miele Group has reported that it recorded sales of €4.84 billion worldwide in the 2021 business year, which is 7.5 per cent up on the previous year.
The company said that Group has grown “considerably faster than the long-term average”, with the 25 newly inaugurated Miele brand stores, such as the Edinburgh store – which ERT visited at the end of last year, providing further “impetus” to its worldwide brand presence.
Refrigeration, cooking and dishwashing were highlighted as strong areas for the company, despite the “bottlenecks” in the supply of semiconductors, it said. But in laundry, floorcare and coffee making, unit sales and turnover are in part “significantly higher” than in the previous year.
In its report, Miele said: “The new Generation 7000 built-in appliances excel with their intelligent assistance systems for creative cooking and top-notch results. In the floorcare sector too, Miele is convincingly positioned in the canister (bagless and with dustbag), cordless handstick and robovac sectors.”
On the sustainability side, the company said almost all its washing machines meet the new ‘A’ energy efficiency rating, and, since last autumn, its dishwashers now come in this class.
Regarding its own efficiency, with its particularly long-lasting and energy-efficient products, its recent first step towards the use of green steel and CO2 neutrality at its locations, Miele is further stepping up its efforts towards achieving the goals of the Paris accord on climate change. The growth and efficiency programme Design2Excellence (D2E), with which Miele has completely realigned itself, was also brought to a successful close.
The outlook for the rest of the year, however, “is dominated by the political and economic repercussions of the war in Ukraine, where Miele is represented by its own sales company, as is also the case in Russia”, the company said.
“The Executive Board and staff of the Miele Group are deeply shocked by the suffering of the people in the war zone and on escape routes. There is a great wave of willingness to help throughout the Group, starting with the protection of the 54 Miele employees in Ukraine and their families, but it has also suspended the supply of appliances to Russia above and beyond EU sanctions.”
Miele said its own Experience Centres and online were already recently closed in the country. Similarly, investments in the market were frozen.
