Mapei: Good Results in 2022, Expectations for 2023

Mapei Ltd. expects a more than 6% increase in sales this year, Béla Markovich, the managing director of the Hungarian company, which manufactures and distributes building materials, has said at a press conference in Budapest. He has also discussed the results of a survey by the company about finding construction professionals in Hungary.

He added to MTI that this year, he expects more money will be left for construction renovations and construction projects. Moreover, both Hungarian and foreign companies are making significant amounts of investment in the country.

He said Mapei Ltd. achieved net sales of HUF 33.5 billion last year, 20.9% more than in 2021. This included price increases due to exchange rate changes, higher prices for raw materials and energy. 

Veronica Squinzi, managing director of the Mapei group, said that the group's consolidated turnover would approach EUR 4 billion in 2022, up from EUR 3.3 billion in 2021, according to preliminary figures.

Founded in 1937, the Mapei Group is now present in 57 countries with 100 subsidiaries, 86 production plants on five continents and more than 11,000 employees.

In response to a question, she said that in Ukraine, Mapei has been present for many years with a distribution company, which has not closed down under the current circumstances. Mapei will want to participate in the reconstruction of Ukraine, she said.

Béla Markovich reported that the company had completed a survey in February 2023, looking at the shortage of skilled workers. This year, they asked construction professionals, rather than the general public, how long it takes between the time they ask for a tender and the start of work. According to the survey, which involved 1,030 respondents, the waiting time for a professional in Hungary this year is 58 days. He recalled that last year, a survey based on a survey of the general public showed that it took 138 days to start work.

The managing director said that the difference between last year's and this year's survey results could be explained by the decrease in demand, in addition to the number of respondents.

The survey showed that Békés county, in the southeast of the country, had the highest shortage of professionals, with a waiting time of 83 days, while Komárom-Esztergom and Tolna counties, west and south of Budapest, respectively, had the lowest, with a waiting time of 38 days. In Budapest, a specialist starts work 60 days after the request for a proposal.

The longest waiting time is still for general contractors, 75 days on average. Bricklayers can start work in 70 days and tilers in 65 days. Plumbers and gas fitters have the shortest lead times, 27 days, and building services engineers 33 days.