Success through innovation

Water is life – and this is truer than ever in times of climate change, when summers are becoming increasingly hot and dry. The garden pond segment benefits from this.

“Every pond is a biotope, a habitat for many creatures – for birds as well as for insects and mammals. We humans, too, long for refreshment in the summer, as already demonstrated by the growing demand for swimming ponds,” emphasises Thorsten Muck, CEO of the company Oase.  

As a leading global specialist in the creation and care of water worlds in private and public settings, the company based in Hörstel, North Rhine-Westphalia increased its annual turnover to nearly 200 million euros in 2022. 70 per cent of its sales derive from outside its domestic market, from Europe as well as Asia and America. Oase is also active on the Arabian Peninsula and has an office in Dubai for its Fountain Technology and Water Technology divisions. The company employs around 900 staff worldwide, has 19 subsidiaries in operation and seven production plants sited in Germany, Italy, Great Britain, the Netherlands, China and the USA.

Oase has steadily expanded its operations since the 1990s. In 2003, its proprietor at the time, Josef Wübker, sold the company to private equity investor Cognetas. The majority stake in Oase has since been acquired by investment company Equistone in 2011 and by Argand Partners in 2017. During this time, the specialist in all aspects of water in the garden has strengthened its market position incrementally by acquiring a number of companies and brands (including Eden, biOrb and Söll). Thanks to its impressive innovative capacity, for which Oase has received the TOP 100 seal of approval three times in a row (see report on the opposite page), the company has repeatedly developed new themed worlds and business units in its two core divisions of Consumer Business and Professional Business. In the Consumer Business division, which accounts for approx. 85 per cent of overall turnover, Oase offers products for the water and garden sphere as well as for aquariums. Its Professional Business division covers the fields of fountain technology and lake management. These are categories which, although they suffered during the pandemic, are now growing again and which Oase believes to still have plenty of growth potential in the long term.

Top priority is given at Oase to designing innovative systems for water worlds in living spaces – systems which are economical with resources, subject to smart control and ecologically sustainable. CEO Muck says: “Oase’s inclusion in the TOP 100 small and medium-sized German enterprises for the third time in succession motivates us to remain true to our brand strategy and advance consistently down the path of innovation. Energy efficiency and the responsible use of natural resources were important topics for Oase long before the war in Ukraine. To this end, the company offers products and integrated solutions to facilitate smart energy control for pond owners with the aid of modern technology developed in a consumer-friendly way.”

Although even Oase has not remained entirely unaffected by the economic upheavals as a consequence of the pandemic and the war in Ukraine, CEO Muck is not anxious about the future. He believes the diversification strategy of his company has helped in this regard. “The trend in the European market with regard to new pond installations has proved difficult in the last year, whereas we have grown strongly in the USA and in Asia.” In any case, the majority of the company’s sales derive not from new installations but from products and solutions for maintaining and expanding existing water worlds.  

The manager views the forthcoming pond season with mixed feelings. Many retailers appeared reticent with regard to early procurement at the start of this year because their warehouses were still full after stocking up significantly in 2022. “In the medium term we will continue to benefit, however, from the boom that the pond sector experienced during the pandemic.” Even the interest in high-value koi fish has now increased again,” states Muck.