Celebrating its 70th anniversary in 2023, Austria’s Wintersteiger Group can report a 33 percent increase in sales and a record result of €223 million for its last financial year (2022). „Covid lies behind us, and today, we are more successful than ever. We […] achieved an Ebitda of more than €30 million,” said Dr. Florestan von Boxberg, CEO, about his group’s record year. “Despite many global political and economic problems, we succeeded in significantly expanding our market position in all of our four divisions thanks to the innovative strength and high commitment of our staff, who now number almost 1,200 worldwide. We also did an excellent job of finding and integrating more than 100 new team members,” emphasized Harold Kostka, Wintersteiger’s CFO.
Sports unit grows the strongest
In the Sports division, the company continued to invest in new digital products during the pandemic and was able to retain all employees. “Consistently, we were rewarded by our customers in 2022,” commented Daniel Steininger, general manager of Wintersteiger Sports. The group’s largest division posted sales of €93 million last year and grew by 43 percent. The North American market performed particularly well, accounting for €34 million in sales. According to the company, the driving force is the fully automatic Jupiter ski service system, which offers many innovative features, such as a completely new edge grinding system and digital ski recognition.
Other business units
Wintersteiger’s mobile laboratories in the form of combine harvesters and seed drills for field trials were also in demand globally last year. The Seedmech division achieved sales of €52 million, up 18 percent. Much of the growth last year for Sedmech came from North and South America.
At €54 million, the Woodtech 2022 division surpassed Seedmech in the internal growth competition. However, half of the 16 percent growth came from the acquisition of German company Heermann Maschinenbau GmbH.
The Metals division grew for the second year after restructuring in 2020, generating secure profits in the millions. Metals now sells just under a third of its volume (2022 sales €24 million, +16%) through the Wintersteiger organizations in America and Asia.
In 2022, Wintersteiger was able to lay a healthy foundation to lead the group into the future in a holding organization. “In addition to the four market divisions, our Operations Division with locations in Austria and Germany will form the central engine room of the group and will be responsible for the industrialization of the main engineering products,” explained Helmut Heftberger, general manager of Wintersteiger Operations. And CFO Kostka added, “Wintersteiger Holding AG will ensure that the topics of finance, IT, HR, legal, marketing and M&A are driven forward and consistently developed so that we do not leave our ambitious growth path.” Wintersteiger aims to double group sales every five years; largely organically but also through further company acquisitions. The continued strong order intake in all divisions provides the necessary tailwind to successfully continue the growth course that has been initiated, the company said.
To celebrate the 70th anniversary of the company, Wintersteiger is inviting guests to an “open-door day” at its headquarters in Ried im Innkreis, Austria, on Sunday, April 30, 2023. There will be an early morning snack, a tour of the production facilities, product demonstrations, game stations, competitions and much more. More information is avaialable at www.wintersteiger.com/tdot.
