Jøtul

Jøtul AS

Type	Ltd.
Industry	Heating appliances
Founded	1853
Founder	Oluf Onsum
Headquarters	Fredrikstad, Norway
Area served	Worldwide
Key people	Eskil Zapffe (CEO)[1]
Products	Jøtul, Scan, Atra, Ild, Warm, Jøtul Group Accessories, Jotul Group Chimney System
Revenue	NOK 850 million (USD 103.5 million) (2015)
Number of employees	618 (2015)
Subsidiaries	Jøtul North America Inc. Jøtul France SAS Jøtul UK Ltd Jøtul Hispania S.L. Jotul Polska Sp. z.o.o. Scan A/S Jøtul Italia Srl
Website	International homepage

Jøtul AS is a Norwegian limited company that manufactures cast iron stoves and fireplaces. The head office is situated in Fredrikstad. Jøtul AS is also the parent company in the Jøtul Group, with subsidiaries in the USA, United Kingdom, Denmark, France, Italy, Spain and Poland.

History

Jøtul was founded by Oluf Onsum as Kværner Jernstøberi (Kværner Foundry) in the outskirts of Christiania (now Oslo) in 1853. While stoves initially were the main products, the company had diversified by the beginning of the 20th century, when it produced turbines and lumber equipment. As the heating appliance manufacture decreased in importance, the production was spun off in 1916 and sold to Herman Anker, one of Kværner's managers. He founded Jøtul AS in 1920 as a sales organization for its products. The sales stagnated during the depression in the 1920s, and 36-year-old Herman Anker died in 1927, leaving it to his successor, 34-year-old Johannes Gahr to modernize and eventually salvage the company. By 1935, the turnaround had succeeded, and the firm acquired its modern name.

By the 1960s, stoves using liquid fuels, especially kerosene had supplanted wood burning appliances, a trend that was only reversed in the 1970s, partly due to the 1973 oil crisis. Jøtul used this opportunity to gain a strong international foothold and drastically increased its exports to continental Europe and North America.

The Gahr family sold the business to Norcem in 1977, and a period of international expansion began, as Jøtul acquired a number of foundries and importers abroad. This period lasted for approximately ten years, but came to an end during the recession in the late 1980s, when Jøtul once again focussed on the domestic market. However, it has resumed its international diversification in the 21st century, and today its products are sold worldwide.

Jøtul is now owned by the private equity companies Ratos and Accent Equity Partners, plus the management of the Jøtul Group.^[2]

Products and markets

The Jøtul Group sells and markets its products under the brands Jøtul, Scan, Atra, Ild, Warm, Jøtul Group Accessories and Jøtul Group Chimney System throughout North and South America, Europe, South Africa, Asia and Oceania.^[3]

Jøtul products have received several design awards from both the Norwegian Design Council^[4] and Red dot design awards.^[5][6][7][8]

References

1. "Eskil Zapffe new CEO of Jøtul". RATOS. 2014-01-08.
2. "Historikk" (in Norwegian). Jøtul AS. Retrieved 2011-10-17.
3. "International homepage". Jøtul AS. Retrieved 2011-10-17.
4. "Search result: Jøtul design awards". Norwegian Design Council. Retrieved 2011-10-17.
5. "Red Dot design products awards 2011: Jøtul F 162 & 163 Stoves". Red Dot. Retrieved 2011-10-17.
6. "Red Dot design products awards 2007: Jøtul 373 wood burning stove". Red Dot. Retrieved 2011-10-17.
7. "The best designers of the red dot design award 2007 in interview: Anna Oeren". Red Dot. Retrieved 2011-10-17.
8. "Red Dot Award: Product Design". Red Dot. Retrieved 2015-09-14.