Düsseldorf, 30.03.2022 – The internationally active Klüh Group, which is celebrating its 111th anniversary this year, has published its annual report for 2021. Despite the ongoing challenges posed by the pandemic, the family-owned company concluded the year with total sales of 814 million Euros. With a slight increase in sales of 0.8 % compared to the previous year, an overall upward trend is discernible.
In the second Corona year, there were still drops in sales, especially in the Catering and Security divisions, where company restaurant closures, the cancellation of trade fairs and events, and restricted airport operations continued to make an impact. By contrast, growth of 10.4 % to 194 million Euros was achieved on the international market.
Safeguarding the future through responsibility
Frank Theobald, Chairman of the Management Board: “Our diversification in countries, sectors and services has once again proven a stable foundation in 2021. However, we above all owe our success to our loyal and committed employees and our faithful customers.” Moreover, Klüh made intensive use of the past year to push ahead with the development of the key future topics of sustainability and digitalisation in facility management. New digital tools and business ideas from the company’s own Center of Digital Excellence (CoDE) create the basis for process optimisation, efficiency increases and smooth communication so as to ensure competitiveness.
For example, since 2021, the Catering division of the multi-service provider has offered company restaurants it manages the option of indicating the sustainability value of each meal on the menu. The transparent information about the environmental footprint of a dish is designed to enable guests to choose a more sustainable option within the menu selection. As the largest service division in the Group, in 2021 Klüh Cleaning once again impressed with particularly sustainable cleaning concepts in which CO2-reducing measures are now taken into account along the entire value chain. This includes, among other things, the use of innovative, water-saving cleaning devices, environmentally friendly cleaning chemicals, work clothes made of recycled material and resource-saving processes.
Investing in employees remains a core issue
With great commitment and numerous benefits, despite the extreme challenges posed by the Corona pandemic, the company has once again succeeded in being an attractive employer and has been awarded the seal “Germany’s Most Desired Employer” for the third time by the F.A.Z. Institute.
“The family-run company Klüh has always aspired to be a good and preferred employer for its employees and to provide a working environment that is appreciative and free of prejudice,” says Christian Frank, Managing Director of the holding company who is, among other things, responsible for the Human Resources department.By signing the Diversity Charter, in 2021 the multiservice provider officially committed itself to this culture and implemented diversity management.
So as to be able to meet the demand for staff even better in the future, Klüh has also launched a new digital job portal. This provides for the targeted recruiting of qualified employees and puts Klüh in a position to go on offering its customers excellent services with well-trained staff despite the general shortage of manpower.
Outlook
For the year 2022, the management assumes that business will pick up again in all divisions. While forecasts may deviate due to the dynamics of the pandemic, it seems likely that pre-crisis levels will be reached in 2022. Taking the key future topics of sustainability and digitalisation into account, the growth strategy will be further pursued. This means that customers of the family-run business can continue to rely on Klüh in the tried and tested manner.
Klüh has provided further information from the year 2021 and on the corporate history in the digital annual report at https://report.klueh.de/annual-report-2021/.
