The German manufacturer of engine oils and additives, Liqui Moly, increased its turnover by almost 15% in 2023 to a total of 917 million euros. Sales of oils and additives increased in volume. The number of employees grew by more than 5%. Employees received inflation compensation with bonuses of up to 3,000 euros.
The two managing directors Günter Hiermaier and Dr. Uli Weller are very satisfied with the annual result. Further investments of over 20 million euros in the German locations in Ulm and Saarlouis will strengthen production and logistics.
“Our goal is to reach one billion euros in turnover in 2025. We can bring this forward by a year,” says Günter Hiermaier confidently. His colleague Dr. Weller, CEO of the Ulm company for a year, also draws a positive assessment from 2023: “The framework conditions were very bad. Energy prices, logistics costs and inflation are affecting us hard. We cannot and do not want to pass on the cost increase 1:1 between our customers. We have to absorb most of the price increases ourselves. The only thing that helps is to make cuts where it doesn’t hurt anyone and sell more around the world.”
As it turns out, Liqui Moly does this very well. Production and sales volumes are increasing. “We have now reached our capacity limit in additive production. More than 18.5 million packs have left the production line in Ulm. The expansion of our production relieves our workload. In 2024 we plan to produce 22 million packs,” says Günter Hiermaier. Oil production in Saarlouis has also almost reached its limit. “Investments of millions help us increase the quantities produced,” explains Dr. Weller.
The Saarlouis oil plant produced an impressive 94,000 tonnes of lubricants in 2023, more than 9% more than in 2022. Engine oils accounted for the majority produced, followed by gear oils. “Our filling systems for small containers reach their capacity limit with these quantities. We have made significant investments to increase production volumes,” says Dr. Weller. In general, the entire capacity limit of the oil facility is in sight and amounts to 120,000 tons per year. “With constant growth we would have reached our ceiling in three years if we had not continued to invest in the location,” continues Dr. Weller.