Liqui Moly Reports Earnings

German lubricant and additive company Liqui Moly this week released a summary of earnings for the first half of the year. The company reported an 8 percent increase in sales to €382 million ($392 million), which fell short of its 10 percent projection.

“I’m satisfied with it, but not happy,” managing director Günter Hiermaier said in a statement. “We are struggling with extreme costs. Raw material prices are rising to unprecedented levels, which we unfortunately also have to pass on to our customers in some cases.”

Hiermaier said additional headwinds affected the company’s bottom line.

“Due to the raw material situation, we have reserve orders amounting to millions,” he said. “In addition, there is a shortfall of around €20 million [$20.5 million] in the first half of the year from [suspending] the Russian business, which the company is waiving of its own accord. Russia had been one of the company’s largest sales markets. There also were losses in the millions from the Chinese business, which almost came to a standstill due to the long [Covid-19] lockdown in China.”

Hiermaier added that it is “remarkable that we achieved sales growth of 8 percent in these disastrous circumstances. We owe this primarily to our loyal customers, our sales team and our colleagues in production.”