-> Family business increases turnover by over 3% to 589 million euros in 2021
-> KÖTTER Cleaning again achieves above-average growth
-> Strong performance also at KÖTTER Security: Declines in turnover from former major contracts at Cologne/Bonn and Düsseldorf airports fully compensated for
Essen. In its second year, the Corona pandemic continued to determine macroeconomic events and thus the development in the service sector. This is also shown by the figures now published for the KÖTTER Group’s 2021 financial year. Despite the continuing difficult general conditions, the family business, which operates throughout Germany, was able to continue to successfully hold its own in the market and increase its turnover by over 3 % to now 589 million euros.
“Our diversification, our innovative solutions and, above all, our team performance are key building blocks that have enabled us to stay on course under the most difficult conditions “, emphasised Board member Friedrich P. Kötter. At the same time, he underlined the overall situation, which remains tense: “The German economy has not yet returned to pre-Corona levels. When this can be achieved in the course of the year remains an open question, not only because of the pandemic, but also because of unstable supply chains, rising prices and spreading inflation, and international trouble spots, among other factors.”
The development of the individual divisions in facts and figures:
- KÖTTER Security: The Security division once again asserted its position as Germany's largest family-run security services provider. As in the previous year, business was dominated by the pandemic. For example, further service reductions compared to the pre-Corona period had to be compensated for at trade fairs and events, in public transport but also in the corporate sector, to which temporary services such as 2G/3G controls contributed, among other things. At the same time, the quality provider was able to achieve new orders and order extensions with the integrated Smart Security Solutions, which range from risk management to special services such as plant fire brigade tasks. These increases also helped to compensate for the decline in revenue from the former major contracts for passenger screening at Cologne/Bonn and Düsseldorf airports, for the continuation of which there were no longer adequate framework conditions. Both aspects are at the same time also the essential factor for the total number of employees, which now stands at 16,500. The company’s own emergency call and service control centre (Notruf- und Serviceleitstelle - NSL) can also report strong figures: In 2021, the NSL skilled workers processed, among other things, almost 60,000 video sequences recorded at the time of the alarm, e.g. from the surveillance of company premises or construction sites.
- KÖTTER Cleaning: The cleaning specialist once again underlined its role as a driver for smart and strictly quality-based 360-degree solutions, through which industry and the public sector benefit from sustainable value retention of their properties, comprehensive health protection for employees and visitors as well as optimal economic efficiency. With these competences, the division scored points with new and existing customers and thus again achieved above-average growth in the second Corona year. The Hygiene & Safety Concept (HSC) underlines the performance strength in terms of prevention and quality. Within this framework, KÖTTER Cleaning supplied its customers with over 125,000 litres of disinfectant (= 500,000 household 250 ml disinfectant dispensers / almost 30 % more than in 2020) and thus made an important contribution to health protection.
- KÖTTER Personnel Service: The Personnel Services division consolidated its position in what continues to be an extremely difficult macroeconomic environment, especially for the temporary staffing industry. In doing so, the service provider continued to align itself as an industry specialist for the takeover of definable business processes on the basis of contracts for work and services and is thus well positioned for the future in the event of a sustained economic recovery. Among other things, the service provider offers specialist and management staff to cover peak workloads. In addition, KÖTTER Personnel Service is a reliable partner for the nationwide retail trade within the framework of in-store logistics. For example, in 2021 alone, almost 39 million boxes were moved in warehouses and stores for customers from this industry.
Outlook and demands on politics
Looking to the future, Friedrich P. Kötter emphasised that the Group would continue its sustainability course as a quality-oriented provider of system and special solutions. “Therefore, we will keep the pandemic development just as firmly in view as all other external influencing factors and prepare ourselves for the most diverse scenarios. For our partners, this means: They can build firmly on our family business in its proven form.”
At the same time, the 55-year-old appealed to politicians to take urgent and decisive countermeasures in view of the economic situation. “This includes rapid and extensive relief for citizens and companies in terms of energy costs by reducing taxes and apportionments as well as the creation of new economic momentum. Last but not least, the topics of debureaucratisation and digitisation by the public sector must finally be pushed forward consistently. The reform backlog in these areas has long since become a huge burden for Germany as a business location and thus also for our industries. This is exemplified by the still excessively long employee approval processes in security by the regulatory authorities, which slow down the deployment of staff and the associated takeover of contracts and growth potential.”
In this context, he underlined the important significance of the security industry's own legislation as laid down by the new federal government in the coalition agreement: "Its realisation, which has been planned for a long time, represents a decisive building block for the further professionalisation of our industry. The foundation has been laid with the draft bill for a Security Trade Act currently being prepared by the Federal Ministry of the Interior. Therefore, I am confident that the politicians will do their homework quickly. The industry also expects significant progress from the recent change of responsibility for the guard register to the Federal Statistical Office. “This is coupled with the clear confidence that in a timely manner, process optimisations will significantly shorten review periods for employees.”.
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