The first six months of 2020 marked by the Covid-19 crisis have generated respectable figures for gardening tool manufacturer Gardena (Ulm / Germany; www.gardena.com), which belongs to Husqvarna (Stockholm / Sweden; www.husqvarna.com). The company’s EBIT rose 50% to SEK 1 bn (approximately EUR 100m), with sales up by a quarter to SEK 4 bn.

While the reorganisation of the Husqvarna portfolio accounted for a portion of this, Gardena confirms that the virus pandemic, with numerous restrictions on people leaving their homes, resulted in a significant increase in sales, especially for irrigation systems.

In line with its parent company, Gardena is intending to focus to an even greater extent on battery-powered tools for the garden and digital controls in future. The Ulm-based company is also a co-founder of the cross-brand battery alliance “Power for All” (www.powerforall-alliance.com), aimed at enabling batteries to be used in appliances of different makes. Other members of the alliance include Bosch, Gloria, Emmaljunga, Wagner and Rapid.