Born as an artisan business in the town of Rapperswil, on Lake Zurich, the Swiss Geberit group is today an international giant in the bathroom sector, with over 3 billion Swiss francs in turnover, 10 thousand employees worldwide, 26 production plants, four of such as outside Europe on three main product lines: sanitary ware, waste and supply systems, ceramics.
Italy third market for the group
Listed since 1999, the group has experienced great and rapid growth over the last 25 years and is today celebrating its 150th anniversary with a series of initiatives centered in Italy, in particular during the April design week in Milan. Furthermore, Italy is the third most important market of the group (with around 7% of total turnover), following Germany which accounts for around a third, and Switzerland which generates around 15% of revenues. And it is one of the few that also grew in 2023 (with +1.9% compared to 2022), a not easy year for the market as a whole and which saw Geberit’s turnover reduce by 9.1%, although with positive margins, equal to 30% of revenues.
Not only that: our country is also strategic from a production point of view, with two production plants and around 600 employees, of which around 150 in Villaodse, where the production of exhaust pipes for the European market is concentrated, and 350 in Gaeta (Latina ), ceramic production site taken over following the acquisition, in 2015, of the Sanitec group, which includes around ten prestigious brands, including the Italian Pozzi Ginori. Geberit also has a commercial branch in Lugano.
Investments in Gaeta and Villadose
«The Gaeta plant has extremely high know-how – explains Giorgio Castiglioni, General Manager of Geberit Marketing and Distribution -: it is one of the first five factories of the group, but specialized in a niche product. Villadose, on the other hand, is strategic not only for its production, but also because it is located in a favorable area from a logistical and infrastructural point of view.” Investments in Italian factories, therefore, continue: in the last 7-8 years, around 40-50 million euros have been invested in Gaeta alone.
The Italian market should remain positive this year too, although without the peaks of recent years, thanks also to the continuation, albeit partial, of the construction incentives which have certainly contributed to supporting sales in Italy also in the last year.
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2024-05-01 23:09:50
