"13% sales growth in a year that was characterized by rising costs, the energy crisis and material bottlenecks is a remarkable result," says CEO Dr. Heiner Lang. The distribution of sales by country market remained almost unchanged at Wago compared to the previous year. While Germany traditionally represents the most important market with a sales share of around 27%, the rest of Europe achieved 42%; ROW (Rest of World) rose to a good 31%. Business on the American continent in particular grew at an above-average rate of 26%. Business in Asia also grew at an above-average rate of almost 20% - particularly in India and Korea, but market shares also increased significantly in Japan.

Wago CEO Dr. Heiner Lang

© Wago

Even though Wago is increasingly positioning itself internationally, the focus of investment remains on the German branches. In 2022, the company invested a total of 101 million euros, in 2023 it will be more than 180 million euros - the largest investment in the company's history. Promoting young talent plays an important role in this. The new training center in Minden started operations at the end of 2022. 6 million euros were invested in future employment here. Technical and commercial trainees as well as dual students will find a shared learning and working environment on 3,500 m² of space. In addition, capacity in the injection molding shop at the Minden headquarters is being increased.

At EUR 40 million, the construction of a new logistics center in Sondershausen is the largest investment project in the coming years. A modern high-bay warehouse with the latest technologies, a highly automated picking and storage area and office space is being built on an area of 11,000 m². Work has been underway since fall 2022, with commissioning planned for 2024. "In order to develop and sustainably secure the site for the future, we are investing in the digitalization and automation of our logistics with foresight," says Jürgen Koopsingraven, who took over the management of the commercial division from Axel Börner as CFO in March.

A look into the future

The consequences of the Ukraine conflict are also clearly noticeable for Wago: the costs for raw materials, energy and transportation have risen enormously. In addition, there are still supply bottlenecks, even if the situation is slowly easing: "We have not yet returned to normal delivery times, for example for automation products, and are therefore starting the current financial year with a high order backlog. For 2023, we expect an almost double-digit increase in sales, although this will require a great deal of effort, as the economic uncertainties will have an impact on the development of business opportunities," explains Dr. Heiner Lang.