Executive Board of STIHL AG

STIHL AG is the managing partner of STIHL Holding AG & Co. KG, ANDREAS STIHL AG & Co. KG, and STIHL Vertriebszentrale AG & Co. KG.

Report of the Executive Board

Dear Business Partners,
Dear Staff,
Dear Friends of the STIHL Group,

2021 was an extraordinary fiscal year – one that exceeded our expectations thanks to our ability to continue the growth course we embarked upon in 2020, contrary to many forecasts. Last year, we generated more than 5 billion euros in revenue for the first time, equating to growth of 10.4 percent year on year. Such results were anything but ordinary or foreseeable given the coronavirus pandemic, which continues to rage worldwide.

The positive revenue trend was fueled by the cocooning effect. Around the world, demand for STIHL products remains so high that our production lines are working at full speed throughout the manufacturing network. We have made unscheduled investments of more than 100 million euros in the expansion of capacities and shoring up resilience in manufacturing. The significant increase in our production and sales figures was only possible thanks to the tremendous flexibility and dedication of our employees, who put in extra shifts and overtime, even coming into work on Sundays. Together, everyone at STIHL did the impossible: setting production, sales, and revenue records despite substantial disruption in the supply chain, serious material and capacity bottlenecks, and problems with global logistics and the availability of workers. For that they have earned the heartfelt gratitude of the entire Executive Board.

All of the products in our portfolio are in high demand. As a result, we saw higher sales of both gasoline-powered and battery-operated products. In fiscal year 2021, battery-operated products accounted for just under 20 percent of all tools sold. And the transition from gasoline-powered to battery-operated tools continues. We are in the midst of a major transformation. STIHL is utilizing its position of strength to actively shape this change through investments and structural adjustments.

Let me take this opportunity to wrap things up on a personal note: 2021 was my final full fiscal year at STIHL. From a professional perspective, the past 20 years on the Executive Board of STIHL have been the most exciting of my life. I am pleased to see what we have accomplished together as the STIHL Group and where we stand today, optimally prepared for the challenges of the future. I firmly believe that STIHL – with its excellent employees – will continue adding new chapters to the success story of the family business that is STIHL.

I would like to thank the Stihl family for the trust they have placed in me, the Executive Board for a consistently productive and positive working relationship, and the members of the Employee Council for their constructive cooperation throughout the years. Positioning a company so successfully depends on each and every employee, all of whom have earned my gratitude. I wish my successor, Michael Traub, every success and the best of luck.

Stay healthy.

DR. BERTRAM KANDZIORA

Chairman of the Executive Board