Dussmann Group: Full steam ahead to the next stage of growth
17.05.2018 — Total sales for 2017 increases by 4.4 percent from € 2.129 billion to € 2.222 billion, growth in all Dussmann Group divisions and 16 international subsidiaries // Business booms particularly on international markets / The number of employees grows by around 800 to 64,318 // New corporate strategy “Dussmann Next Level”
The multi-service company Dussmann Group, Berlin, which operates worldwide, again achieved strong growth during 2017. Sales in all divisions and in 16 countries rose by 4.4 percent to 2.222 billion EUR (previous year: 2.2 percent). Growth in 2017 was organic in the divisions Dussmann Service (facility management) and Care & Kids (nursing and care for seniors and children). International operations generated a substantial increase of 10.4 percent, primarily in Italy, Luxembourg and Hungary. Significant development was seen in the Care & Kids division. EBITDA on consolidated Group sales was 4.8 percent.
“2017 was a very good year for us, but above all a year of transition and realignment. Together, the board of trustees and the executive board of the Dussmann Group have set the course for the future. There has been reorientation in terms of personnel and content in several service sections. We have appointed start-up managers and technical services experts and will strengthen our team with further specialists in order to prepare the company for the future. Now we are concentrating on what we want to achieve by 2023 in the new Group strategy Dussmann Next Level ” agreed Catherine von Fürstenberg-Dussmann, chairperson of the board of trustees and Dr. Wolfgang Häfele, executive board speaker at the annual press conference in Berlin.
The Dussmann Group has set itself the goal of sustained growth during 2018 whilst simultaneously aiming for significant improvement of operative results. The first four months have been encouraging, as contract coverage in the facility services division already exceeds 90 percent. The Dussmann Group’s medium-term planning for 2019/20 takes an equally optimistic perspective; Kursana plans to open two further care facilities for senior citizens in 2018 and in autumn of 2018, Dussmann KulturKindergarten will open a nursery with 90 places, the ninth facility operated by the provider of in-house corporate child-care.
New Group strategy “Dussmann Next Level”
To ensure sustained growth, the new executive board, which was appointed in August 2017, has analyzed the entire Group portfolio. As a result, a balanced risk will be maintained over the coming years; the family-owned company Dussmann Group will continue to operate in the sectors of facility management, nursing and care for seniors and children and in media retailing. "We don't plan to do everything differently, we plan to do several things better thereby achieving benefits for both clients and employees” said Dr. Wolfgang Häfele in Berlin. “Our analysis has certainly identified optimization potential which we now intend to harness in the Dussmann Group strategy 2023 Dussmann Next Level ”.
Dussmann Next Level is based on four elements:
- Fit for future through core optimization: The Dussmann Group is a strategic partner for outsourcing of property management processes with FM operations in Germany and EMEA (Europa, Middle East and Asia). Its assets: efficient structures, a wide but integrated service portfolio, outstanding client-orientation and extensive process knowledge. The Dussmann Group creates quality customized solutions for clients in many different sectors, from schools to chip and pharmaceutical manufactures. Dussmann emphasizes careful use of resources and international compliance standards and in its nursing and care operations, the Group plans to expand out-patient services.
- Both organic and inorganic growth will be accelerated through compatible acquisitions in strategic areas for which the Dussmann Group has the necessary financial resources. A focus will be placed on technical services, the particularly dynamic FM market in the Middle East, on expansion of out-patient care and the activities of Dussmann KulturKindergarten.
- The Dussmann Group aims to be the employer of choice for personnel with specialist skills and for management staff. The existing concepts for compensation and further training are being developed to answer the needs of the individual company divisions and employees alike.
- Dussmann will consistently increase the deployment of new technologies and invest in both the digitalization of business and administrative processes and in new support technologies. The target is to make a significant proportion of the value chain digital by 2023. This is an ambitious goal and the Dussmann Group plans to establish collaborations, alliances and joint ventures to achieve it. Higher levels of digitalization will serve to improve quality, make processes faster and more agile and lighten physically demanding tasks.
The Dussmann Group as Employer
The number of employees rose by around 800 to 64,318 in 2017. “Again, we have created new jobs and made a contribution to employment and the common good. Our 6,000 employees make us one of the largest employers in Berlin/Brandenburg, among the family enterprises in the capital, we are number 1 in terms of employment” said Häfele, executive board spokesman. “Dussmann creates jobs and that is why we are concerned about the government coalition contract that regulates limited contracts of employment. We have a continued need for unbureaucratic, pragmatic solutions that do not increase the difficulty of recruiting personnel for facility management contracts. In our experience, limited contracts aid recruitment as numerous contracts with clients in this area are for a limited period. Furthermore, they are very often the start of long-term employment. We expect the federal government to maintain a constructive dialog with companies who have practical experience” appealed Häfele.
Changes in the Dussmann Group Board of Trustees
On February 12, 2018, the Dussmann Group appointed Doris Greif to the board of trustees. She is an expert in the first-class hotel industry and has a professional foothold in the United Arab Emirates. Doris Greif will be able to apply her specialist knowledge in the expansion of the Dussmann portfolio in the Middle East and beyond. Wolfgang Clement and Dr. Tessen von Heydebreck have left the board subsequent to long and valuable involvement.
Sales successes at Dussmann Service
A major new contract started in September 2017 serving the entire north-west region of Telefónica Germany. It includes extensive FM services in seven offices and call centers and in the 195 retail outlets of the telecommunication provider. Dussmann Service has commenced integrated FM at the all-inclusive resort, Erlebnisland Eurostrand in Leiwen (Moseltal).
Ferries in Venice, high-speed trains in Italy, public buses and tramcars in Luxembourg, cars and nostalgia rail carriages in Austria all have one thing in common; they are cleaned by Dussmann Service. Dussmann has expanded its knowledge and service skills for the transport and logistics sector in several countries. The Austrian Dussmann subsidiary won the tender by a major infrastructural service provider resulting in the largest contract since the subsidiary was founded 50 years ago. Under this contract, the Dussmann team cleans at 1,300 locations.
Dussmann also cleans the over 100 high-speed trains operated by the railway company Trenitalia on 47 million kilometers of track across Italy. Bergamo airport Orio al Serio, Verona airport and Vilnius International Airport have contracted Dussmann with cleaning services. Very recently, the Dussmann team started cleaning operations in the new trams on the Kirchberg in Luxembourg city, in the administrative offices and in the depot.
Each day, 442,000 people across the world are served meals by Dussmann Service, an equivalent of 117 million meals each year. Of these, 30.2 million are prepared in Italy where, in March, 2018, the family enterprise Alessio Ristorazione Srl with annual sales of 27 million Euros was acquired. The largest hospitals in Florence and Rome awarded extensive catering contracts to Dussmann Service and in the city of Lecco, Dussmann took on the responsibility of school catering. Four further Dussmann Delis were opened, three in Vietnam and one in Tallinn/Estonia. The Dussmann Deli outlets serve healthy fast food throughout the working day and can be integrated into staff restaurants. In Berlin, a new staff catering contract with the European patent office will start in July 2018.
The largest hospital in Turin Citta della Salute e della Scienza awarded contracts for cleaning, logistics and additional soft services to Dussmann Service, Italy. In Luxembourg too, Dussmann is very active in the health care sector. The Zihta clinics, which have been Dussmann clients for many years, expanded the contract with Dussmann in March 2018 to include a FM package for their geriatric care division, Zihta Senior. Meanwhile, the subsidiary in Hong Kong succeeded in entering the health care sector for the first time. Worldwide, Dussmann carries out services at almost 500 hospitals and clinics.
In the Middle East, the Dussmann Group is currently preparing to provide services in Saudi Arabia. In Asia, there have been several prestigious contract awards including those for security services at the Aurora Museum in Shanghai and for cleaning services in the residential complex Mayfair by the Sea and at the Open University in Hong Kong.
New facilities at Care & Kids
The sales increase generated by the division Care & Kids in 2017 was achieved through new facilities and excellent occupancy at existing ones. In September, a further Kursana Domizil with 80 places was opened in Straelen (North-Rhine-Westfalia). Kursana is expanding its out-patient portfolio and acquired a private out-patient care service in Hamburg. A continuation of these encouraging developments is predicted for 2018 and the following years with focus on the German market. The new Kursana Domizil facilities in Hamminkeln and Oberhausen (North-Rhine-Westfalia), each with 80 single rooms, will be accepting residents as from the end of 2018. The new, generously proportioned Domizil facility in Eschenburg (Hesse) will open in 2019 with 91 single rooms providing nursing and care in small residential groups. The first Kursana Quartiershaus will open in Sundern (North-Rhine-Westfalia) in 2020 at the latest. A new child-care facility in Wittenberg was opened by Dussmann KulturKindergarten in autumn 2017 and this will be complemented by a nursery with 90 places in 2018.
With 64,500 employees in 17 countries, the Dussmann Group provides services for people, by people. The largest service division, Dussmann Service, provides technical services, catering, security, reception, cleaning, surgical sterilization, commercial facility management and energy management from a single source. DKA constructs, installs and services all types of refrigeration and air-conditioning equipment and systems. HEBO Aufzugstechnik GmbH constructs premium elevators and modernizes, services and repairs existing elevators. Kursana nurses and cares for 13,600 seniors. The Dussmann Group operates the media department store Dussmann das KulturKaufhaus in Berlin and in-house corporate child-care at Dussmann KulturKindergarten facilities. In 2017, the Dussmann Group generated total sales of 2.22 billion Euros.