• Kärcher Beteiligungs-Gmbh
Correspondence address: 28-40, Alfred-Kärcher-Strasse 28-40, 71364 Winnenden, Germany
Governing Law: Code Of Commerce / German Gaap
Legal Form: Limited Liability Company
Registration Number: Hrb 261825
Nature of Control: Ownership of shares – 75% or more

• Markus Jakob Asch
Correspondence address: 3 Neikenstrabe, Ammerbuch, Germany, 72119
Date of birth: March 1971
Nationality: German
Country of residence: Germany
Occupation: Director

• Hartmut Otto Jenner
Correspondence address: Sonnenbergstrasse 70, Winnenden, 71364, Germany
Date of birth: September 1965
Nationality: German
Country of residence: Germany
Occupation: Director

• Simon Charles Keeping
Correspondence address: Spinney Farm, Duns Tew, Bicester, Oxon, Oxfordshire, OX25 6JT
Date of birth: December 1960
Nationality: British
Country of residence: England
Occupation:Director

• Christian May
Correspondence address: Kärcher House, Brookhill Way, Banbury, England, OX163ED
Date of birth: December 1972
Nationality: German
Country of residence: Germany
Occupation: Company Director

• Mark Richard Venner
Correspondence address: Kärcher House, Brookhill Way, Banbury, England, OX163ED
Date of birth: April 1969
Nationality: British
Country of residence: England
Occupation: Accountant

Ultimate parent company: Alfred Kärcher SE & Co. KG (based in Germany)

Corporate Group
• Clean Sweep UK
• Karcher Futuretech
• Ringler
• Woma
• Atlantis International Ltd (Dormant)

• Statement of Capital (Share Capital)
Class of Shares: ORDINARY
Currency: GBP
Number Allotted: 2320000
Aggregate nominal value: 2320000
Amount paid per share: 2320000
Amount unpaid per share: 0

• Statement of Capital (Total)
Currency: GBP
Total Number of shares: 2320000
Total Aggregate nominal value: 2320000

• Full Details of Shareholders

Shareholding 1: 2320000 Ordinary shares held as at the date of this return
Name: Kärcher Beteiligungs-Gmbh

Strategy

• The Group brings in a majority of its cleaning equipment from the Euro Zone.
• New product development in Outdoor products helped grow this product sector
• Indoor products fell short of expectation.
• The company’s’ focus on aftermarket services for their customers saw very good growth, as a result of their continued investment in engineering infrastructure and efficiency in processes.
• Machine hire turnover saw strong double-digit growth in the year.
• In collaboration with the parent company, the management team introduced a set of projects to increase process efficiencies and create cost reductions, which have tightened the cost basis, despite having a full year of higher new head Quarters running costs. The significant spend for the group in the year was on warehouse and carriage, advertising and marketing expenses and personnel costs.
• Product stock values reduced year on year by 16.1% due to a strong last quarter of sales and second half of the year stock reduction program.
• Brexit remains a major concern and the uncertainty makes investment and planning more complex.
• The UK group operate with minimal cash levels, with cash repatriated to the ultimate parent company where possible. Any reduction in demand for the UK group and parent company’s products creates an immediate need for financial support to meet the UK group and parent company’s operating costs.

Ambition

Their clear, simple innovation philosophy: innovation is what benefits people.

Their ambition is to have the courage to break new ground and the conviction to do things instead of just talking about them. This philosophy results in solutions with convincing performance, quality and handling that are one step ahead of the market.

• Private customers
• Businesses (Industry, Agriculture, Automotive, Construction, Contract Cleaners, Health Sector, Hotel and Hospitality industry, Retail, Transport and Logistics)
• Public and Municipal Services

Customer Reviews on TrustPilot

Average rating: 3.3 stars

5-stars review:

Oct 24, 2020

“Excellent service

Truly a reputable international company who replaced a machine broken during delivery with speed and curtesy”

3-stars review:

Oct 29, 2020

“Winding in the lance very poor.

Just started using my new K7 (previously had K6.5) find rewinding the wand in is hard ‘juddery’ work. The ‘knob’ on the rewind should be a handle as there is very little to get hold of, plus there should be somewhere to wind the flex. My old K6.5 was far better…backward step Karcher.”

1-star review:

Oct 29, 2020

“Beware returns policy. If a product is just bad/useless and does not work as advertised that does not constitute a flaw. I mistakenly bought a leaf sweeper from Karcher directly so as to support the business.. rather than using Amazon… silly me.

The product is useless.. unboxed and tried for an hour. Then cleaned and reboxed as its pointless and falsely advertised for the job. Karcher will not accept the return even tho I contacted them same day as delivery.

If I had bought from a secondary retailer I could have returned it as useless but Karcher are having none of it. Their replies don’t even address my issues and they don’t give a fig. All I get are links to returns policy over and over… total lack of customer service, they couldn’t care less.

Learn from my mistakes and if you buy, buy from someone who has customer service as a priority”

The company wants to make their customers’ everyday life simpler, better and more pleasant with powerful, efficient cleaning solutions. And to help them achieve big results and move things forward.

The average monthly number of persons (including directors) employed by the group and company during 2019, amounted to 315 (2018: 320).

Employers’ culture

• Karcher’s’ founder Alfred Kärcher coined the guiding idea that the company bears special responsibility towards its employees because they are the ones who make the success possible in the first place. The group still shares this attitude.
That’s why it’s important to provide employees with a work environment that enables top performance.
• Employees are notified of the business performance and future developments through monthly operating updates, weekly team leader review meetings and the company’s annual conference. All employees have performance reviews, learning & development plans and self-assessment appraisal meetings at least twice a year.

Employee benefits

1. Family benefits, ex. Providing financial assistance in the form of maternity and marriage benefits or with individual arrangements for childcare and care of relatives.
2. Work-Life-Cycle: flexible working time models or the ability to work in the home office.
3. Health: the company offers healthy food in the canteen and organises information events, courses and seminars covering specific themes.
4. Mobility: ex. cheap leasing campaigns for vehicles and parking space on the staff parking lots.
5. Education and Training: they support lifelong learning with a wealth of further education and training programmes.
6. Appreciation: reward of employees service and loyalty at anniversaries with financial contributions.
7. Top performance: Kärcher ideas management rewards suggestions that contribute to improving our competitiveness.
8. Tradition: Annual events like the Christmas celebration and Kärcher family days.

Employee Reviews

Glassdoor

1. Feb 11, 2019
Former Employee – Field Service Engineer in London, England
He/ she worked at Kärcher full-time for more than a year
Pros
Always working to develop their personnel and improve their services Communication is pretty good
Cons
Trying to get onto courses that are run in Germany are a bit harder to get onto. Covering the London area can be a stressful job due to the amount of jobs per day

2. Jul 11, 2018
Current Employee – Manager in Banbury, England
He/she has been working at Kärcher full-time for more than 10 years
Pros
Ambitious, great products, great brand. Good opportunities to progress.
Cons
Don’t consider joining if you’re scared of hard work.

Indeed

3. Productive, happy and friendly place to work
Administrator (Current Employee) – Banbury, Oxfordshire – 6 October 2017
Good place to work, unfortunately cannot offer me part time work around my newborn, but my original full time position I have accepted due to needing income. But I had no choice but to come back into my role full time other than part time which I opted for.
Karcher is a very happy place to work and colleagues are lovely and helpful too.
Pros
Hour lunch, helpful staff, flexible if need of emergency
Cons
Unable to work around childcare, redundancies made, staff leaving

• The company provides its customers with innovative products which helps them do the job simply, safely and with maximum quality
• They offer their customers exactly what they need for their individual cleaning requirements.

Annual Report File

Locations

UK Headquarters:
Kärcher House
Brookhill Way
Banbury
OX16 3ED

The company has 25 customer service points in the UK.

Social Media

Facebook

Twitter

Instagram

LinkedIn

Pinterest

YouTube

Awards

Kärcher has been winning awards for its design, innovation, economy and commitment to the environment since the 1960s. We’re rightly proud of these achievements, among them 18 iF Design awards from the International Forum for Design in Hannover and 12 Red Dot Design Awards.

Articles

1. Insidermedia
• “Turnover and profits have risen at the UK arm of Kärcher with the success of the cleaning equipment giant’s indoor floor care range helping its retail division perform well.”
• “The wider Alfred Kärcher SE & Co group achieved a turnover of €2.525bn in 2018, the highest in its history.”

2. Businesswire
• “The global floor cleaning machines market is expected to grow by USD 1.91 billion as per Technavio. This marks a significant market slowdown compared to the 2019 growth estimates due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in the first half of 2020. However, steady growth is expected to continue throughout the forecast period, and the market is expected to grow at a CAGR of almost 4%.”
• Alfred Kärcher SE & Co. KG is ranked among the major five floor cleaning machines companies by Technavio.

Competitors List (alphabetical order)
Criterion: Industry subcategory, Company Size and Product

Amtech UK

Clemas & Co Ltd

Hako Machines Ltd

Nilfisk

Tennant UK Cleaning Solutions Ltd