In a very challenging economic environment, spinning machinery specialist Rieter, headquartered in Winterthur, Switzerland, succeeded in significantly increasing sales to CHF 1,510.9 million for its 2022 financial year.

Due to the rapid rise in inflation, however, an exceptionally high order backlog of around CHF 1,840 million at the beginning of 2022 had to be processed at significantly higher costs which it was only possible to offset through price increases and other remedial measures.

In order to safeguard deliveries it was also necessary to compensate for serious material bottlenecks, particularly in electronic components, which resulted in considerable additional development expenditure, and major expenses were also incurred in connection with the reported acquisitions of Accotex, Temco and Winder from Schlafhorst.

Despite these difficulties, sales increased by 56% compared to 2021 as measures introduced to address material bottlenecks began to have a positive impact.

The market situation is now characterised by investment restraint due to geopolitical uncertainties, higher financing costs and consumer reticence in important markets but the company had an order backlog of around CHF 1,540 million at the end of 2022, which extends well into 2023 and 2024. In 2022, Rieter recorded order cancellations of less than 10% of the order backlog at the beginning of the year.

In separate news from the company Norbert Klapper, who has led Rieter as CEO for nine years, is resigning to take on new professional challenges and will be succeeded by Thomas Oetterli.

Oetterli has made a significant contribution to the successful development of the Schindler Group – the Swiss manufacturer of escalators, moving walkways and elevators – starting in 2006 as CEO Switzerland, later as a member of the group executive committee responsible for Europe and China, and from 2016 until 2022 as CEO of the group.

www.rieter.com