‘Successful’ year for Zeppelin Rental

Leila Steed Editor, Demolition & Recycling International

04 April 2023

(PHOTO: Zeppelin)

Zeppelin Rental has reported its 2022 full year financial figures, bringing in €666 million in revenues, compared to €576 million in 2021.

The company’s financial results were published with those of its parent company Zeppelin Group, which described its €3.8 billion group sales performance for 2022 as “successful”.

Peter Gerstmann, Chairman of the Management Board of the Zeppelin Group, said, “Despite the particular challenges we have faced, especially the war against Ukraine and its effects, the sometimes-challenging political framework on some markets, highly dynamic price behavior, and persistent supply bottlenecks among our manufacturing partners and suppliers, we have achieved a remarkable result thanks to the combined strength and great commitment of our employees.”

According to the Group, Zeppelin Rental is set to achieve more growth over the next year and will increase its offering of temporary and flexible products and services.

“The range of services, which includes small devices as well as logistics for complex construction sites and the organisation of large-scale events, opens up various interesting development opportunities,” said Zeppelin Group.

While the company is predicting a continued slowdown of the wider construction industry, and the construction equipment market as a consequence, Zeppelin says “the large population of machines and engines provides a solid basis for the service business”.

The strong performance of its rental business was demonstrated at Bauma construction exhibition in Munich, Germany last year. During the event it secured orders worth over €70 million - double the figure it achieved at Bauma 2019.

Although 2022 also saw the company make several moves to increase its market share in the Nordic region by focusing on growth in Sweden and Denmark, “the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine” means that Zeppelin Group is now also anticipating war-related stresses in 2023.

“While Zeppelin is currently fulfilling its local service and maintenance obligations in Russia in strict compliance with sanctions and in accordance with its contractual obligations to its manufacturer partner Caterpillar,” said Zeppelin Group.

“The assumption is that business in Russia cannot be continued, on a permanent basis.”

Therefore, like its parent company and thousands of other businesses, Zeppelin Rental is applying a cautious approach to its operations in Austria, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Sweden and Denmark.

“Really, nobody knows what will happen next year in Germany or in Europe,” said Zeppelin Rental’s COO Peter Schrader when speaking to IRN at Bauma last year. “Given the current political and economic situation, everything can change every day.”