Group-wide sales increased 13% in 2022 to €655 million and have almost doubled in the last five years.
“With war, inflation, and transformation, we were all eager to see how things would shape up in 2022. The fact that we were ultimately able to post this result is a splendid achievement on the part of all our employees,” said Hengst Filtration CEO Christopher Heine.
The 2022 growth came primarily from the business in the independent aftermarket. Although global aftermarket sales exceeded €200 million for the first time last year, all business areas and also all regions except China (due to coronavirus) performed well in 2022. Hengst Filtration recorded strong growth in the industrial and environmental applications segment.
“And for 2023, we expect further growth of around €100 million,” said Hengst Filtration’s chief financial officer Holger Krumel.
The group’s M&A strategy underlines its transformation from an automotive supplier to a filtration specialist in many areas. The acquisition of Brazilian company Linter Filtros Industriais was its first outside Europe and its third in the industrial air filtration sector. With the opening of sales offices in Warsaw and Sydney (focusing on hydraulic filtration), Hengst is now represented on five continents. Production preparations in the medical technology sector and investments in the TechCenter Filtration (both at the main site in Münster) also testify to the company’s transformation.
Heine is optimistic about the medium-term future for Hengst Filtration. “We’re experiencing high demand for our innovative filtration solutions for future applications such as fuel cells. The interest the market is showing is boosting our motivation to develop sustainable technologies and encouraging us in our vision of purifying our planet,” said Heine.