Velenje - The Hisense Europe Group generated just under EUR 2 billion in sales in 2020, more than 97% of which came from home appliances. It ended the year with a loss of EUR 12.8 million, of which Gorenje's loss was EUR 11.5 million. Nevertheless, the group has been generating profit in the last 14 months, Gorenje said in a release on Thursday.

The Hisense Europe Group, which includes the Velenje-based maker of household appliances and TV sets Gorenje, generated EUR 1 billion in sales revenue in Western Europe last year and just over EUR 800 million in Eastern Europe.

Last year, Gorenje alone generated EUR 1.19 billion in sales revenue, which is 42.3% more than in 2019, while the loss of EUR 11.5 million represents an improvement of EUR 48 million compared to 2019, Gorenje pointed out.

According to Gorenje, their performance last year was affected by the completion of the integration process of the Hisense Group's European operations into the new Hisense Europe Group.

The outbreak of the Covid-19 epidemic and the related sudden drop in orders from March to May last year, several weeks of low capacity utilisation, the optimisation of different areas of activity and strong competition in the sector have also had an impact.

In the second half of 2020, production capacity utilisation gradually increased and the group made progress in several other areas, but it was not able to fully compensate for the huge drop in sales in the first half of the year and ended the year with a loss.

Hisense Europe has been showing improved results since June 2020, consistently making a profit since then. At the same time, the group increased its market share in Europe to 3.7% last year, most notably in the refrigerator-freezer segment. The market share is also increasing this year, Gorenje adds.

Hisense Europe also focused on online sales last year and significantly improved its online business, particularly in Eastern Europe, increasing online sales across Europe by 53% last year compared to 2019.

Last year, the group invested EUR 42 million in research and development, of which almost EUR 12 million in new product development, and increased the number of R&D staff to nearly 400.

Last year was the first year of operations under the newly created Hisense Europe Group, which comprises all manufacturing, service, sales and subsidiary companies in Europe and geographically covers Central and South-Eastern Europe, the Baltic States and the countries of the former Soviet Union.