Household appliances V-Zug with lower sales in the first half of the year

The V-Zug Group has not yet turned the corner. Sales fell again in the first half of 2024. By contrast, the household appliance manufacturer made further progress in terms of profitability.

Sales fell by 4.7 percent to 284.1 million Swiss francs from January to June, as the Zug-based company announced on Friday. Adjusted for currency effects, the decline amounted to 4.2 percent.

However, sales volumes increased in most markets, according to V-Zug. Only in North America and Germany did they fall compared to the previous year.

The international markets accounted for 15.3 percent of total sales. In the home market of Switzerland, sales increased by 1.3 percent compared to the first half of 2023 to 240.5 million Swiss francs.

More earned

At CHF 8.8 million, the operating result (EBIT) was significantly higher than the previous year's figure of CHF 5.1 million. The margin increased accordingly to 3.1 percent from 1.7 percent. According to V-Zug, this was due to improved utilization of production capacities and lower quality costs.

In addition, various cost reductions and a profit participation from the pension fund also contributed to the improvement in the operating result. The Group result doubled from CHF 4.3 million to CHF 8.7 million. V-Zug thus exceeded analysts' expectations across the board.

Higher order intake in the Swiss market

The Swiss market has recently recovered. According to V-Zug, incoming orders were consistently higher in the first half of the year. In addition, the sales promotion measures had had an effect.

In international business, the own-brand business developed positively with an increase of 18.5 percent, it added. Growth was particularly strong in the Asia-Pacific markets (Australia, Singapore, China).

Confident outlook

Overall, V-Zug assumes that the market situation is slowly recovering and therefore expects an improvement compared to the previous year. The company also stated in its press release that the now reduced inventory levels at partners are a positive factor.

For the year as a whole, V-Zug expects higher sales and improved profitability - in absolute terms and relative to sales.