Chairman of the Advisory Board of STIHL HOLDING AG & Co. KG, Hans Peter Stihl, will be eighty on 18 April 2012 and will step down from his Chairmanship of the Advisory Board on 30 June 2012. The STIHL Shareholder's Meeting has decided that his son, Dr. Nikolas Stihl will succeed him as Chairman of the Advisory Board. Hans Peter Stihl emphasised that, "This ensures that STIHL will maintain the ethos of a medium-sized, family-run business in the future." Dr. Nikolas Stihl will resign as Managing Director of the Austrian gardening power tool manufacturer VIKING on 31 March 2011 in order to prepare for his duties as Chairman of the Advisory Board. Dr. Nikolas Stihl, the grandson of the STIHL company founder, has been the Managing Director of VIKING, the Austrian STIHL Group subsidiary based in Langkampfen, Tyrol, since 1993. VIKING is currently one of the leading companies within the European gardening power tool sector.
Hans Peter Stihl: Half a century of company service
At the beginning of 1960, Hans Peter Stihl joined the Managing Board of his father's company as an assistant, soon assuming management of the "Production and Design" department. In 1966 he attained membership of the Management Board with responsibility for the Development, Production and Purchasing departments. In 1971 he joined his father as a personally liable shareholder. Following his father's death in 1973, he assumed the management of the family-run business and together with his sister, Eva Mayr-Stihl and from 1978 with his brother, Dr. Rüdiger Stihl, developed it into a corporate group with an international structure. Since January 1995 the Group has been operating under the umbrella of a holding company, the personally-liable shareholder of which is currently and will remain Hans Peter Stihl. In July 2002, Hans Peter Stihl retired from operational activities and became Chairman of the Advisory Board of STIHL HOLDING AG & Co. KG as well as Chairman of the Supervisory Board of STIHL AG. Today, the business operations of the STIHL Group are managed by a five-person Management Board, none of whom belong to the family.
Company portrait: STIHL Group
The STIHL Group develops, produces and sells power tools for the forestry, landscape cultivation and construction sectors. Its product range is complemented by the VIKING gardening power tool range. The products are distributed exclusively via specialist service-providing dealers, with 32 fully-owned sales and marketing companies, more than 120 importers and around 35,000 specialist dealers in over 160 countries. STIHL has been the world's highest-selling chain saw brand since 1971. The company was founded in 1926 and is headquartered in Waiblingen near Stuttgart. In 2008, STIHL achieved a turnover of 2.14 billion euros with over 10,000 employees worldwide.
Company portrait: VIKING
VIKING was founded in 1981 in Kufstein and was able to continuously expand the production of its garden shredders. Three years after foundation of the company, VIKING began the development of its own line of lawn mowers in 1984. In 1992, following incorporation into the STIHL Group, the company completely renewed its gardening power tool range. Today, VIKING produces and sells lawn mowers, robotic mowers, lawn tractors, garden shredders, tillers and scarifiers. With 250 employees, VIKING achieved a turnover of 106.2 million euros in 2009. Consistent development of high-quality products and good marketing techniques in collaboration with the STIHL Group have made VIKING a leading company in the European gardening power tool sector.