"This result exceeded our expectations. Despite the coronavirus pandemic, there was a clearly positive trend from the fourth quarter onwards," says Chief Financial Officer Axel Börner.

Chief Financial Officer at Wago: Axel Börner

© Wago

At country level, Germany and France, as well as the USA and Japan, remained very stable in terms of sales. Only a few markets, such as India and Scandinavia, experienced a decline. "If we also consider the currency effects, we can be very satisfied with our result and feel that the growth trend is clearly continuing in the first quarter," explains Axel Börner.

The distribution of sales by national market remained unchanged compared to the previous year for the supplier of electrical connection and automation technology. While Germany traditionally represents the most important market for Wago with a 27% share of sales, the rest of Europe accounts for 44%; ROW (Rest of World) is just under 30%. The number of employees also remained constant at around 8,500, of which around 4,000 are employed in Germany.

Even though the Wago Group is active worldwide and produces at nine international locations, the investment focus remains clearly in Germany. Around 70% of the €70 million invested in 2020 went into the headquarters in Minden/Westphalia and the production and logistics center in Sondershausen/Thuringia. The largest project in 2021 is the new training center on Hansastrasse, which will be completed this year. The conversion of the existing vending machine assembly facility, including a new combined heat and power plant, will cost around 5 million euros.

Another major investment project has already commenced operations. Around 15 million euros have been invested in the new production site in Vadodara, India, whose capacity will provide the necessary growth reserves.

Chief Executive Officer at Wago since 01.01.2021: Dr. Heiner Lang.

© Wago

On January 1, 2021, Dr. Heiner Lang replaced Sven Hohorst as Chief Executive Officer, who moved to the Advisory Board of the Wago Group. Looking ahead to the current year, protecting the health of the workforce remains a top priority. "If the current very positive order intake continues, we can expect a good end to 2021, but the overall economic situation remains uncertain," says Dr. Heiner Lang.