Polti Spa, the Como-based company known throughout the world for steam applications for garment care, cleaning and sanitization in the domestic and professional fields, closes the 2020 financial year and draws the first projections for 2021, aiming to strengthen a presence it has held since the 1970s. If 2020 was a positive year especially for the cleaning/ disinfection range, 2021 also shows strong growth in volume and value in the ironing range.

Income statement and market leadership.

The 2020 financial statements show consolidated revenues of €80 million with +30% of revenues compared to 2019; EBITDA, about €10 million, stands at over 12%. Foreign sales remain at around 50% of the total.

The general trend indicates an economic-financial soundness that will lay lay the foundations for a future of continued growth. The profit and the revaluation of the brand portfolio have strengthened the Net Equity of the Como-based company, today 13 million €, highlighting the value of intangible assets, through which Polti continues to dominate its markets of reference.

Markets where Polti showed excellent results in 2020: more than 80% growth in the steam market, confirming leadership in volume and value in Italy and Spain (and value in France) in the steam cleaning segment and growing double digit in the ironing market, even in a year that saw products for the care of garments having a hard time.

The major projects of 2020.

2020 saw Polti pay particular attention - on a production, commercial and investment level - to the Professional Range, through the renewal of some cleaning and disinfection products, action needed to face up to the unexpected pandemic crisis and the resulting increase in demand for health and hygiene safety.
During the year specific tests were carried out on the products of the professional range, a process through which they were qualified in March 2021 as SDD (Steam Disinfection Devices) according to the only official standard currently available for this category: the standard AFNOR NF T72-110, having demonstrated virucidal (also against Sars-Cov-2 virus responsible for the Covid-19 disease), bactericidal, sporicidal, fungicidal, levuricidal and mufficidal effects (Polti Sani System, Polti Vaporetto MV and Polti Vaporetto Pro). Furthermore, Polti Sani System, created thanks to a collaboration with the Faculty of Medicine and Surgery of the University of Pavia, is able to disinfect without contact and is dedicated to the disinfection of environments at risk of biological contamination.

The major themes of 2020, also included marketing and communication, which have been reserved for investments equal to 5% of turnover. Polti has returned, after several years, to television advertising on national and international networks (the campaign was on-air also on the main broadcasters in France), with a high-impact spot that revealed the "secret of Polti": steam. Starring Francesca Polti, director of the family company, and her daughter. The goal was to tell through an emotional narrative the brand and its values: Innovation, Sustainability and Respect.

2021outlook: January-August analysis

Polti also analyzes the first months of 2021 and indicates the closing targets for the next financial year. +24% of sales, is the percentage of growth that emerges from the comparison January-August 2021 compared to the same period 2020 - a trend that the company aims to maintain until the end of the year.

In a very volatile macroeconomic context, an important objective will be to maintain the EBITDA between 10 and 12%, trying to balance with growth the pressure due to the increases in the cost of raw materials, together with significant increases in the cost of container transport:
"Like many industries, we are suffering the negative impact of ongoing speculation about components and international transport. We also had to slow down production for a short time despite sustained demand - stresses Francesca Polti, Managing Director. However, we remain optimistic: we will satisfy our trade customers and the final consumer, who continues to trust an Italian company that for over 40 years has been developing new technologies for cleaning and disinfection of environments and care of garments".

In terms of market share, 2021 is showing excellent results in the iron market, a sector where Polti has regained its leadership in the field of ironing systems with steam generator ("Polti Vaporella": the product that created the market and has been synonymous with ironing since 1978); starting from this result, the extension to other segments of the market began with the launch, in the first half of the year, of traditional irons. The goal is to close the year with a solid +30%.
+30% is also the forecast of growth in the steam cleaning sector, a market that Polti itself has invented and has always dominated. Addes to this goal is the expansion to new applications and sectors of the professional cleaning and disinfection line.

Communication

Investments in TV communication continue in 2021(the brand ad was on air in Italy, France and Spain in the first half of the year and will be again in October) and through digital and social activities. The #homelovers community is growing and consolidating around Polti: modern people, attentive to hygiene and sustainability who recognize themselves in the company’s solid, traditional but open, inclusive values that are in step with the times.

Among the projects of 2022, which will already begin in the last part of this year, should be noted the relaunch of an iconic product of the company: Polti Moppy, winner of several awards for innovation;  the #conunbhierediacqua campaign will be dedicated to this type of "cordless" steam cleaning, with a significant reference to the natural resource used in all Polti products dedicated to cleaning and care of clothes, precisely to underline that the use of steam is a sustainable and effective choice not to waste too much water, a resource to be preserved.

"We are satisfied with the results, which reward, after difficult moments, the great cohesion and trust that characterize our team - comments Francesca Polti, Managing Director. In 2020 we dedicated time and resources to research, to see in 2021 our products qualify as SDD - Steam Disinfection Devices. Investments in Communication have increased the awareness of our brand and not only in Italy where at the end of 2020 almost 90% of the population knew Polti (survey MPS-Evolving Marketing Research, January 2021).

We intend to continue investing to increase consumer confidence in our brand and involve a broad audience in the simple narrative of our project, which commits us to making our contribution to people’s well-being and to promoting sustainability, understood as respect for the environment in which we live and also as a contribution to the various areas of society in which we are immersed, to promote the values we believe in. To address all this, our future efforts, as well as investments, will focus on innovation and the involvement of all our stakeholders. The extended community in which we live and that we want to attract (consumers, retailers, suppliers, employees and their families, local community, homelovers), is our reference point: only by creating shared value can our brilliant economic performance fully achieves its goal".

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