The global pandemic is leaving its mark on every business, but despite a fall in earnings compared to the mid-point for 2019, German lubricant specialist LIQUI MOLY has reported a 2.9% growth in sales for the first six months of 2020.

Commenting on this impressive performance in the face of Covid-19 restrictions, Managing Director Ernst Prost said, “Our proactive measures in this exceptional period are bearing fruit. We remain in the black.”

The company has adopted an aggressive strategy to maintain business. Outside of the budget, an additional 18 million euro was invested in advertising measures and 4 million euro was donated to rescue and mobile care services in the form of free products. Production continued to operate at full capacity and 36 new employees were even hired. “State assistance measures, such as short-time work compensation, were never an issue for me. In fact quite the opposite. At the beginning of the crisis, all employees received a special payment of 1,500 euro,” said Ernst Prost.

In Germany, LIQUI MOLY recorded a 5% increase in sales, while growth in the harder hit international markets topped 1%. The company distributes its goods in 150 countries. Some of them, such as Russia and China, were hit particularly hard by the crisis, which is also being felt by the lubricant specialist. “With our product range, around 4000 products in B2B and B2C, as well as in the international consumer market, we are broadly positioned, which makes us a resilient company,” explained Günter Hiermaier, the second Managing Director of LIQUI MOLY.

Ernst Prost sees the months of July and August as an acid test. In 2019, these were record months, each with sales of just under 60 million euro. He is confident that the company will be able to regain or even surpass these highs.