Karcher, a global market leader in cleaning technology, has posted record sales of €2.5 billion ($3.07 billion) in the financial year 2017, reflecting a 7.5 per cent growth over the previous year.

At the end of 2017, the family company employed 12,304 people in 67 countries worldwide. This is 442 more than in the previous year.

“Kärcher continues to grow,” said Hartmut Jenner, CEO and chairman of the management board. “We have achieved the highest sales in our company’s history with €2.5 billion in 2017.”

With 7.5 per cent, the company grew twice as fast as the world market for cleaning technology in the past financial year.

“It is welcome that we have also improved in almost all countries in local currency,” said Jenner. “Business was very good in our core markets Germany, France and Japan. But emerging regions such as Eastern Europe and South America also contributed to this positive development.”

In the past year, the company registered 56 new patents and launched more than 100 new products on the market. In the case of commercial dry cleaners, for example, the focus was on energy efficiency and battery technology as a key technology with significant potential: For the first time, newly introduced models deliver the same performance as wall-powered devices thanks to modern lithium-ion batteries. With the floor cleaner FC 5, Kärcher has developed a device for end consumers that combines vacuuming and mopping in just one step.

In 2017, Kärcher invested more than €18 million in building, conversion and renovation of buildings at its locations around the world. Among other things, a new head office was opened in Yokohama, Japan, near Tokyo. At its headquarters in Winnenden, Germany, Kärcher has started the construction of an office building with 150 workspaces. – TradeArabia News Service