At a regional level, Europe managed to close the year with sales growth of 8.7% in local currencies, primarily driven by the strong contribution from Southern Europe. The Americas region grew by 9.1%, while Asia/Pacific was at 13.8%. China recovered slowly from Covid-19 lockdowns, while the rest of the region achieved solid growth rates. The ongoing war in Ukraine had an impact on the entire Eastern Europe / Middle East / Africa region, resulting in growth of 3.1%. The continuous appreciation of the Swiss franc against all major currencies resulted in a negative impact of 6.3% on sales.

“Despite the ongoing economic and geopolitical uncertainties, we grew at a high single digit rate in local currencies and, with that, outperformed our industry. We expect a further softening of the environment in 2024 but are well equipped to face this challenge and confident to continue our growth,” says CEO Jahangir Doongaji. For 2024, the Hilti Group expects a mid/single digit sales growth in local currencies with a significantly negative currency impact in Swiss francs.