COVID-19 has been an ever-present issue since the beginning of 2020. The first case in Germany was recorded as early as January. And here in Germany, the first wave of the pandemic culminated in a lockdown in mid-March. Similar conditions prevailed in other countries. The automotive and mechanical engineering industries were hit particularly hard. In the automotive sector, productive output fell by almost 75 per cent during the first lockdown. Industry giants like Bosch, Schaeffler and Continental are struggling with the effects and have had to cut jobs. The medium- and long-term consequences of the second lockdown, which will last into the new year, can only be guessed at so far.
The effects of the pandemic were also felt in our company. Nevertheless, 2020 was also marked by the consistent further development of the company: numerous employees were hired, two new markets in Eastern Europe were successfully entered, a new CRM system was introduced for the whole sales team and our homepage was relaunched.
Thanks to consistent digitalisation in recent years, advisory services could be provided via videoconferencing and a large part of our work could be carried out from home. Throughout the year, we remained able to offer our customers our usual high-quality advice and assembled over 300 lightweight buildings across Europe.
The team spirit within the company and the resilience of each individual were rewarded with strong end-of-year results that will carry us well into next year. As a company, we therefore start 2021 significantly strengthened and with great confidence.
