“The fact that we have been able to achieve yet another year of growth is mainly due to the outstanding commitment and motivation of our employees”, commented Lemken's managing director, Anthony van der Ley. Also, the company's various investments made in manufacturing technology and logistics proved effective in allowing existing production capacities to be utilised as flexibly as possible. The number of employees increased by 7% to 1,144.
“Our positive result also builds on the good income situation of farmers and contractors, who are investing in professional agricultural machinery to future-proof their businesses”, van der Ley continued. This is a central aspect in the domestic German market, where Lemken was able to record 11% growth, although demand on international markets was also consistently positive. In France, an important agricultural market, the company achieved 20% growth, and in the United Kingdom it even managed to increase its sales by 45%. The Russian Lemken subsidiary recorded 4% growth, as did the remaining Eastern European countries. Only project business was relatively flat in 2013, but this hardly affected the overall result. Sales were also exceedingly successful in Canada and the young markets in the USA and South Africa, where Lemken has built up early distribution structures. The sales figures also comprise the manufacturing plant in Nagpur, India, which has been operating for a year, and the recently commissioned assembly plant in Qingdao, China. Both plants manufacture machines for their respective local markets. The export ratio remained almost constant at 72%.
In the past financial year, Lemken also made substantial investments of EUR10.8 million in research and development in order to extend its leadership in innovation, which was once again impressively confirmed during the 2013 Agritechnica in Hannover, the world's largest agricultural machinery fair. The contour adjustment for semi-mounted cultivators and the Swingcut system, an active vibration damping system for spraying booms, were both awarded silver medals by the DLG (German Agricultural Society). The Lemken Juwel, the first ISOBUS-controlled plough on world markets, was additionally named “Machine of the Year” by the specialist press. Positive sales developments were achieved in all product groups, most strongly, however, in the compact disc harrow segment. In total, more than 17,200 implements were manufactured at Lemken's German sites in Alpen, Föhren and Meppen.
In view of the company's continued growth, Lemken is planning to make investments of more than EUR50 million over a period of five years. Of these, the new parking lot for employees at Alpen was completed in 2013, and construction works have started on the new incoming goods area and logistics hall. Additional manufacturing and supply facilities will substantially expand Lemken's production and assembly capacities. Construction of a new development facility will start in early 2014; this building will house the company's engineering department, which has grown considerably, and the test hall.
Van der Ley expects that sales will remain at this high level in 2014, based on current producer prices for agricultural produce, which have declined slightly, but remain high. The most ambitious project the Lemken engineers will pursue in 2014 will be the further development of single-seed drill technology, which was introduced as a concept study at the Agritechnica. In addition, the new Rubin 12 compact disc harrow, the Karat cultivator with transport carriage and the Zirkon 12K power harrow will be launched on the market.
