B
efore the lockdown led to an economic slowdown in Germany, the Gauselmann Group’s numbers were in a positive direction, as it still managed to achieve an increase in sales in 2019.
The family-run company from Espelkamp closed the 2019 financial year with an increase in sales of 6.7 percent despite difficult economic and political conditions. All group companies achieved a combined turnover of €3.42 billion, and without internal sales, fully consolidated sales of €2.58 billion were achieved in 2019.
Company founder and CEO Paul Gauselmann described it as a “great result, which is primarily due to the enthusiasm and motivation of the employees – and for that I would like to thank them very much.” The positive development before the pandemic also came with an increase in the number of employees, which rose by 451 jobs to a total of 13,846 employees.
Company founder and CEO Paul Gauselmann.
The international business became increasingly important for the Gauselmann Group in 2019, a trend that had already become apparent in previous years. The gaming manufacturers generated more than 60 percent of sales outside of its home country. “Sales abroad rose continuously before the coronavirus. This has reduced our dependence on our core market of Germany, where the legal framework has unfortunately deteriorated for years,” Gauselmann explained. “Constantly new restrictions ensure that there is massive migration of the gaming guests to unlimited or even mostly illegal offers, for example on the Internet or in back rooms, where youth and player protection no longer apply. This means we are often no longer able to fulfill the legally formulated mandate to guide the people’s natural instinct to play in an orderly manner.”
Prior to the outbreak, Gauselman’s capital base increased by 10.7 percent or by €108 million to €1.116 billion, by an equity ratio of 66.4 percent. The high equity ratio was a visible sign of the sustainable corporate strategy, which is based on continuous investments and long-term business success. “This was particularly beneficial to us during the lockdown phase. This enabled us, despite the Europe-wide closure of our 800 arcades, the many hundreds of sports betting shops and the ten German casino locations and casinos on cruise ships, to focus on the full preservation of the nearly 14,000 jobs in the company,” Paul Gauselmann noted.
