The positive development in business results from the strong demand for wood pellets in almost all Western European countries. Double-digit growth rates for pellet-based heating units and pellet stoves have led to increasing demand for wood pellets in the private consumer market. The corporate client sector has also recorded substantial growth, for instance in supplying heating to residential-property companies, as well as clinics and industrial enterprises.
The power-station sector should also be named as a driver of growth, due to the expansion of biomass-fuelled power stations in the United Kingdom, producing electricity and heating from wood pellets.
Likewise, the takeover of the Austrian Glechner Group, effective as of 1 January 2012, contributed to the growth in turnover. In acquiring the Glechner Group, German Pellets expanded its production and sales capacity in Austria, an important market for pellets. Overall, German Pellets proved to be in a position to expand its leading position in its Western European sales markets over the last business year. For the first time, FireStixx Holz-Energie GmbH, taken over in the middle of business year 2011, was also consolidated 100 %.
"The development in turnover and earnings in 2012 fulfilled our expectations. Our sales network, and thereby also sales in our core markets – Germany, Austria, Denmark, Italy and Belgium – have grown more rapidly than expected. Added to this, the power-station sector in the United Kingdom has become a further important market. At the same time, in expanding production capacity in the USA, we are ensuring a secure supply of pellets", notes Peter H. Leibold, Managing Partner of German Pellets GmbH.
German Pellets GmbH was founded in 2005 in Wismar (Mecklenburg-Vorpommern) and has developed into the largest producer of wood pellets worldwide. At 15 sites in Germany, Austria and the USA, German Pellets is producing wood pellets and also animal-hygiene products.