Tradition and innovation for Villeroy & Boch

2014 was another good year for Villeroy & Boch, a historic luxury brand in the Bathroom & Wellness and Tableware segments.

Founded in 1748 and publicly traded since 1990, the Germany-based multinational reported revenue growth for the fifth year in succession to reach 766.3 million euros (up 2.8% in nominal terms, or 4% on a constant currency basis, from the 745.3 million euros of 2013). EBIT also rose by 6.1% to 38.4 million euros (or 43.2 million euros including the non-recurring income from the sale of the plant property in Sweden) and consolidated net income improved slightly from 23.9 to 24.3 million euros.

These positive results reflected strong performances by both divisions, Bathroom and Tableware, which respectively account for 61.2% and 38.8% of revenue.

"As in the previous years, development in our home market of Germany was robust in 2014, with revenue rising by 2.8% year-on-year to 218.8 million euros." - Andreas Pfeiffer, board member and head of the Bathroom & Wellness division told us.

"Elsewhere Europe, we recorded substantial revenue growth in the Netherlands (+13.4%), Belgium (+10.4%) and Austria (+8.3%) but suffered an approximately 7% drop in revenue in France and Italy.

"Results in Eastern Europe were satisfactory, with revenue reaching 69 million euros (+3.8%). Despite the weak rouble, revenue in Russia, one of our key growth markets, rose by 7.4% in nominal terms and by as much as 22.7% in local currency. By contrast, revenue in Ukraine fell by 49.2%.

"Outside Europe, business in the Asia/Pacific/Africa growth region developed positively (+12.7 %), largely due to the encouraging revenue performance in China (+28.1 %)."

Read here below the full interview with Andreas Pfeiffer published on Ceramic World Review 112/2015