Regions chip in but Hilti down overall

Construction industry services company Hilti reported year on year sales down by 2.3% for the four months to the end of April.

The Liechtenstein-based business said the drop was due to the strength of the Swiss franc and that revenues in local currencies were up 4.5% on their 2014 equivalent.

Total sales were just under CHF1.4 billion (€1.34 billion), CHF33 million (€31.7 million) below the corresponding figure last year.

North America was the best performer with a rise of close to 12%, while there were large decreases for Latin America at more than 13% and Europe at almost 9%.

In local currencies, all five regions reported an increase in sales, with eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa overcoming the difficult Russian market to post 11% despite a 3% fall when measured in Swiss francs.

“We are pleased to see that all our regions continued to steer a growth course and by doing so helped offset part of the negative exchange rate effect for the group as a whole,” said CEO Christoph Loos.

“For the time being, nothing seems to indicate any significant change in terms of exchange rates and the global market situation. Hence, we continue to expect solid single-digit growth in local currencies and slightly negative sales figures in Swiss francs.”