The lift business, as the old joke goes, can be very up and down.
Take Finland’s Kone (FI:KNEBV). It enjoyed a compound annual sales and operating profit growth rate of almost 8 per cent in the decade before Covid-19 hit. Its launch of a carbon fibre product, UltraRope, in 2013, told its own story about the strength of the market. It was aimed at developers of skyscrapers, which has been a booming market.
Last year, a record 180 towers with a height of more than 200 metres were completed – the 10th year in succession that more than 100 buildings of this height were completed, according to the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat.