Robert Bosch GmbH has increased sales 5.2 per cent in the first quarter of 2022.
A member of the board of management and chief financial officer of Robert Bosch, Dr Markus Forschner, said the company is off to a solid start.
“At present, we expect to exceed the six per cent sales growth forecast in our annual report,” he said.
Forschner said the cost of energy, raw materials and logistics has made it a challenging business environment.
He said cost pressures are very high with prices for certain raw materials almost tripling since 2020.
“We must prepare for continued high prices and very volatile markets,” Forschner said.
“Bosch will rise to the challenge of this difficult phase; what’s important here is to have pioneering products and a clear long-term strategic focus and we have both.”
Deputy chair of the company’s board of management, Dr Christian Fischer, said more than one third of carbon emissions are from buildings.
“The transition to alternative heating starts with the heat pump, ideally powered by green electricity,” Fischer said.
Increasingly the legal requirements for new buildings around the world reflect this. For example, 65 per cent of new heating systems will have to be powered by renewables by 2024.
Bosch will invest an additional $US315.9 million in the heat-pump business by mid-decade.
“The market will grow by an annual 15 to 20 per cent between now and 2025. We aim to grow twice as fast as the market,” Fischer said.