Claas reports record sales and 22% increase in profits
18th December 2018
The family owned Claas Group, and one of the world’s largest manufacturers of agricultural machinery, has reported record sales and a substantial increase in profitability for its 2017/2018 financial year.
Overall sales rose 3.4% increase to a new record of 3.889 billion Euros, up from 3.761 billion Euros, boosted by increased revenue from its core markets including Germany, France and the United Kingdom. On the back of this, profit before taxes rose 22.3% to 226 million Euros, up from 184 million Euros the year before.
Over the past 10 years, spending on research and development has doubled and reached a new record level of 233 million Euros, a rise of 7.3%. During the year, this resulted in the launch of the new Jaguar Terra Trac, the first forage harvester with integrated crawler tracks, plus the new generation Tucano including Montana hillside versions.
Considerable investment also continues to be made in fixed assets, rising 22.6% to 160 million Euro. This has included the modernisation of the main assembly line at the Claas Tractor factory at Le Mans, the construction of a new high-bay warehouse at the world parts centre at Hamm, a new machinery test centre at Harsewinkel and the start of the redevelopment of the CUK headquarters at Saxham and the distribution centre for Claas France.
Outlook
Claas expects stable development in the global agricultural engineering markets for the current 2019 fiscal year, despite regional uncertainties. The increasing demand for professional agricultural technology continues to be a driving force. General risks lie particularly in global trade disputes that also affect agricultural goods. In view of this market assessment, Claas expects sales revenue slightly above the level of the previous year for the current business year and a stable result before taxes.
The members of the Claas Executive Board (from the left) Bernd Ludewig, Hans Lampert, Hermann Lohbeck
