profi was one of the few UK magazines to be invited to the Stihl International Media Event at its HQ in
Waiblingen, Germany. The event was well attended, with over 100 journalists representing 15 countries
The normal purpose of these press launch events is to give an update on the health of the company and also showcase the main new product lines scheduled for debut. However, new for this year, Stihl had decided to let us ‘see behind the curtain’ and give us a whistle-stop tour inside some of its main production facilities. A guide to Stihl’s health was presented by Dr Kandziora, Stihl’s executive board chairman. In summary, Stihl Group achieved a turnover of €2.8billion in the period January-August 2019 — up 6.1% over the same period in 2018. Whilst this was generally good news, it was not all plain sailing. The unusually hot weather experienced in Europe coupled with low rainfall had dented demand. Add this to the continued uncertainty over Brexit and a generally difficult world economic situation, and it had all conspired to generate slower than hoped for growth.
