GEISLINGEN/STEIGE, Germany – The WMF Group will launch a whole new brand identity for its newly established consumer goods division at this year’s Ambiente consumer goods trade fair in Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
On this occasion, WMF, Silit and Kaiser brands will be presented for the first time under the common WMF Group brand.
“The new brand identity guides our customers and consumers much better through WMF Group’s brand environment,” says Peter Feld, Chairman of the Executive Board at WMF.
“This clear focus on our customers helps us continue to develop a global brand group, and we thus consistently implement one of our major core strategic goals.”
In the 2014 fiscal year, the WMF Group advanced the planned measures of its strategic transformation program and thus – despite necessary restructuring measures – was able to increase revenues by a total of three percent to EUR 1,024 million (previous year: EUR 997 million), according to preliminary results.
“The figures for 2014 clearly show that we are on the right path. I want to thank all the employees who contributed to this successful year and actively help shape the future of WMF Group,” Peter Feld went on to say.
The Global Consumer Goods Business remained stable and reached EUR 594.0 million (previous year: EUR 593.7 million), even after extraordinary expenses such as the tightening up of the product range by approximately 16,000 items and the closing of almost 20 percent of the 200 original retail stores have been taken into account.
In the Global Coffee Machine and Hotel Business, the WMF Group generated total revenue of EUR 426.0 million (previous year: EUR 400.0 million).
This represents an increase of seven percent. Coffee machine sales have been particularly strong. Sales here were eight percent higher than the previous year.
Internationally (46 percent of revenues), the WMF Group was particularly successful in the Chinese market and thus achieved a significant increase by 40 percent in the Global Consumer Goods Business.
“We have made strong advances in China and have taken the appropriate measures to benefit more than before from the enormous potential of this important growth market in the future,” said Peter Feld.