To safeguard their position as farming innovator, Lely’s 2020 R&D expenditure increased in line with their sales development and was 6.5% of sales. Further widening in expertise was achieved through strategic investments in start-ups and close collaborations with customers.
Also an unusual and dynamic year
Andre van Troost, CEO Lely: “2020 has been an unusual and dynamic year. As an ‘OneLely’ team, we have proven to be resilient, flexible and creative while facing the challenges of the pandemic. We have been able to keep our production facilities in Maassluis and Pella operational throughout the year in a safe manner, making sure our business kept running and our products continued to be built.”
“Although it wasn’t always easy, we are very proud of the commitment and dedication of our employees and Lely Centers. Together, we managed to continue supplying farmers with our innovative solutions and services. We would like to thank the farmers in particular for showing faith in Lely. We feel privileged to work in a sector where they play a crucial role in feeding the world, producing high quality, safe and affordable dairy products.”
“Our customer appreciation of the Lely products and Lely Center service also grew further in 2020, and as a result we see that our product leadership combined with unrivalled service levels at our Lely Centers continues to attract more and more customers to Lely.”
Building the ‘Lely Farm of the Future’
During the Lely Future Farm Days digital event in October 2020, three ground breaking innovations were introduced supporting the Lely Farm Of The Future vision;
- Lely Sphere, a new barn system for separating mineral flows from manure and reducing emissions;
- Lely Exos, the first ever global concept for the fully autonomous harvesting and feeding of fresh grass;
- Lely Horizon, a new digital farm management platform.
All three products will further aid the circulairity of the farm and at the same time boost the enjoyability, sustainability and profitability of the dairy farmer.
Supervisory Board members appointed
The Supervisory Board of Lely was also formed & all of its members appointed in 2020. Chaired by Alexander van der Lely, the Supervisory board acts as a supervisor and advisor to the Executive Board and ensures that Lely remains a healthy family-owned company.
Outlook for 2021
COVID-19 has significantly turned global dairy markets around. Strongly reduced demand for ‘out of home’ dairy products has somewhat misbalanced supply and demand and had a negative impact on global farm gate milk prices. Increasing feed cost adds to the reduced profitability at dairy farms, which is likely to continue in the first half of 2021, but a recovery is expected during the second half of this year.
As a family owned company, with a long-term focus, Lely will continue to invest in order to deliver on its Lely Farm of the Future vision, supporting global dairy farmers worldwide with innovative solutions to secure a profitable, sustainable and enjoyable future in farming.
Highlights:
- Record-breaking sales of € 615 million
- Further increase in customer satisfaction & appreciation of the Lely products and services
- Continuous growth in the global adoption of automation on dairy farms
- Introduction of ground-breaking and circular innovations, progressing towards the ‘Lely Farm of the Future’
- Supervisory Board members appointed
Lely results 2020 & outlook 2021
