After a year with red numbers on the bottom line, hummel achieves a profit of 115M DKK and thus delivers the best result in the brand’s almost 100-year history. At the same time, revenue increases by 38 percent, and the Danish sportswear brand is now approaching a revenue milestone of 2 billion DKK.
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Despite a difficult 2020 with long-term lockdowns of both grassroots sports and retail, the Danish sportswear brand hummel chose to focus on an offensive strategy and invest in the future.
This tactic has proven to have a positive effect on the business, as hummel comes out of 2021 with the best result on both top and bottom line in the brand's almost 100-year history. Turnover has increased by 511M DKK to 1.858 billion DKK in 2021, while the total profit lands at 115M DKK.
“As a sports brand, we have a natural winning mentality, and it really shines through in our employees. Their engagement and adaptability have helped deliver a fantastic comeback in 2021. It has once again emphasised the unique culture in hummel where we pull together and set each other up for the best results in everyday life,” says Allan Vad Nielsen, CEO of hummel.
STRONG GROWTH IN THE GERMAN MARKET
The significant growth in revenue is broadly based across hummel's categories, markets, and distribution channels, but is largely due to a positive development in the German market, where hummel has tripled its overall business over the past three years and is now approaching a turnover of 1 billion DKK.
“We have never doubted the great potential in the German market, but it is mainly in recent years that we have really made a breakthrough there. That’s also why we expect to continue to grow in the German market in 2022 - and this applies to both online and offline. At the same time, we have high expectations for our new football sponsorship of FC Köln, which will take effect from the summer of 2022,” says Allan Vad Nielsen.
In addition to the growth in the German market, it is also the Scandinavian countries - Denmark, Sweden, and Norway - that have been hummel's key players with regards to the 2021 result, with a total growth of 35 percent.
NEW OPPORTUNITIES IN WHOLESALE
For the past two years, hummel has had great success with an increased focus on digitisation, and - via online partners and its own e-com - they have now succeeded in doubling their digital turnover for the third time in a row. Nevertheless, wholesale remains hummel’s biggest business area and continues to experience significant growth.
“Several of our competitors have chosen to downgrade wholesale, and this has left a gap in the market, which we are trying to exploit to strengthen our presence and be an even stronger partner for our customers. For the past three years, we have really aimed to capture market share in wholesale, and with an overall growth of 30 percent in 2021, it remains an absolute top priority for us,” says Allan Vad Nielsen.
OUTLOOK FOR 2022
Despite the uncertainty around the current market situation with war in Ukraine, historically high inflation, and COVID-19 in China, hummel remains optimistic when it comes to the outlook for 2022.
"We've had a positive start to 2022 where we’re growing all the way around compared to our record year in 2021. But if there is one thing COVID-19 has taught us, it is that you should never take anything for granted. In the current market, it is almost impossible to foresee how the world will look like in six months, and therefore it is very much a matter of being prepared for change and continuously adapting to the market conditions. We have succeeded quite well so far, but we have only played the first half, and only time will tell how it ends up looking when the year is over,” concludes Allan Vad Nielsen.
In addition to hummel, the three brands; Newline (sportswear), Halo (fashionwear), and Sometime Soon (kids fashion) are also included as part of the company's overall accounts.
