DEAR READERS, According to our newly-designed cus- Our operating results rose by 7.4 per- tomer satisfaction survey, 92 percent cent to 783 million Swiss francs, which of our customers have come to place led to a 13.3 percent return on sales as their trust in Hilti. And more than 60 well as a 19.8 percent return on cap- percent say that they have a strong ital employed. Thus, we once again connection to us. With over 1 million achieved our ambitious targets in the active customers around the world, sixth year of implementing our Cham- we are thrilled to receive such feed- pion 2020 corporate strategy. We also back at the end of what has been quite used this solid foundation to carry out a dynamic year. The economic enthu- signi昀椀 cant investments in the future. siasm for the worldwide construction The outlays for research and develop- industry has noticeably lessened in ment – particularly with regard to our the course of the year and investments digital agenda – once again rose by have stalled, particularly in the politi- 3.2 percent. cal hotspots of the Middle East, Turkey and Great Britain. After many years of We further re昀椀 ned the Hilti Founda- low interest rates and strong econom- tion’s social and cultural initiatives, ic cycles, there is now a worldwide which now support some 40 projects surplus of both residential and com- around the world. Initiatives include mercial real estate. Combined with affordable housing, economic em- the increasing uncertainties associ- powerment and utilizing music for ated with global trade, this has led to social change, in which we support- market growth of only 1.5 percent as ed more than 120,000 people in 2019 measured in Swiss francs. Addition- on their path to a better life. Funding ally, unfavorable currency develop- for these activities comes from con- ments have had a negative impact on tributions on behalf of both the Hilti Group and the company’s owner – the our sales and 昀椀 nancial results. Martin Hilti Family Trust. Learn more With sales growth of 4.3 percent to at www.hiltifoundation.org. 5.9 billion Swiss francs, we performed well in this environment, further As we look back on a successful 2019 strengthening our market position. In business year, we remain convinced 2019, the primary growth driver was that by supporting our customers with again the introduction of nearly 70 new ever-improving solutions regarding products and many new software solu- productivity, safety, design, technical We want to thank you, our customers Heinrich Fischer Christoph Loos tions and services, some of which are calculations and the digital transfor- and partners, for your ongoing trust. A Chairman of the Board of Directors Chief Executive Of昀椀 cer presented in this report. We also con- mation of construction processes, we special word of thanks goes out to our tinued to expand our worldwide service have taken another important step in employees around the world for their and sales team, and welcomed 1000 implementing our corporate strategy. commitment and passion in bringing additional team members to the com- We will continue to enhance these de- our corporate mission statement to pany. Every day, they are committed to velopments in the coming year, even in life every day: We passionately create enabling high productivity and safety the face of what could be a more de- enthusiastic customers and build a for our customers’ core applications. manding market environment. better future. 02–03