At the end of the first half-year 2014 the EUROBAUSTOFF centrally calculated buying volume has clearly increased. At 10.4 % above the previous year, the cooperation is well on its planned course after six months.
At the end of June the buying volume was approx. 2.7 billion euros. “Our partners’ business – and, with this, also ours – is doing very well,” emphasised the chairman of the EUROBAUSTOFF managing board Ulrich Wolf to the press. “In the first quarter we were able to compensate for the previous year’s weather-related losses. Now everything is levelling off again.”
The 2nd quarter is comparable to that of the previous year. Turnover decreased by only a little which shows that there is still a large market demand. Ulrich Wolf continued, “This development is good for our partners. In this way there are no extremes in the market and employees don’t have to work to their limits every month.”
The major winners of the 1st half-year are the sectors retail trade with a growth of 16.6 % and wood with a growth of 25 %. Hereby the sectors decorative wood, garden furniture, household, wood in the garden and work clothing had above average growth. Wood-based materials and construction wood also did extremely well. Three-quarters of the buying volume is, however, still ordered in wholesale trade. The half-year volume just fell short of 2 billion euros. The growth of 8.9 % is better than in the whole market. The goods sector tiles/natural stone also increased by more than the overall growth with 11.1 %. Since the founding of EUROBAUSTOFF, tiles/natural stone have represented a continuously growing sector which annually improves its market share.
“The monthly results will not be quite so impressive in the second half-year,” predicts EUROBAUSTOFF managing director Ulrich Wolf. “But this is due to the high figures of the previous year’s months. The overall mood in the economy and amongst consumers remains good. The right property in the right place is still worth its weight in gold.” EUROBAUSTOFF, therefore, predicts a growth of a higher, one-digit percent figure for 2014.
