Dürr wins major contract from Renault

05/28/2001

Wax cavity preservation improves quality

The Dürr Technological Group has been put in charge of supplying a total of four cavity preservation systems for car body shells through its French subsidiary Dürr-AIS S.A., Paris for a total value of over Euro 50 m. One contract in the amount of approx. Euro 30 m has been awarded for the engineering of all systems and for the installation of two plants; another contract totaling approx. Euro 20 m is expected shortly.

The first two cavity preservation systems encompassing the process equipment, the conveyor systems and the application machines including robots and wax logistics will be installed at the Spanish operation in Palencia and at the French Renault operation in Douai. In Douai, where Dürr, as general contractor, was also put in charge of the construction of a new building, the first of the four wax pres-ervation plants is scheduled for commissioning in April 2002, with a daily produc-tion rate of 1800 vehicles in three shift operation. Dürr will install systems with the same design for Renault in two other French and Spanish operations.

The preservation method is used to additionally coat the cavities of a car body with hot wax in order to further improve protection against corrosion. Renault considers this quality improvement to be an important step in strengthening its competitive edge, as after this investment the anti-corrosion guarantee can be extended to 12 years for several models.

Dürr-AIS (formerly Alstom Automation) is the leading supplier of painting systems for mass production to the French automotive industry, and also holds a strong position in the component suppliers industry. After acquiring a 50 % stake in Al-stom Automation S.A. in the year 2000, Dürr has now purchased the remaining 50 % of shares through its subsidiary Dürr Systems GmbH, Stuttgart with effect from April 30, 2001. In the fiscal year 2001, the Dürr-AIS Group is expecting sales of over Euro 200 m.

"The next major contract within only a few months shows that Dürr has achieved its strategic goal to improve access to the French automotive market at home and abroad" says Hans Dieter Pötsch, Chairman of the Board of Dürr AG.

In the fiscal year 2000 Dürr AG increased sales by approx. 67 % to over Euro 2,042 m. EBITDA rose by approx. 83.3 % to about Euro 119.8 m, earnings before taxes, previously influenced by goodwill amortization and financing costs for ac-quisitions, rose by 30.0 % to Euro 46.3 m. Dürr expects sales and earnings to rise by double digit percentages with a proportionally greater increase in earnings for the current fiscal year.

The Dürr Technological Group is one of the world's leading suppliers of produc-tion systems and manufacturing support systems to the automotive industry and its component suppliers. The six business units Paint Systems, Automotion, Envi-ronmental, Ecoclean, Services and INTX and the Carl Schenck Group are organ-ized under the aegis of Dürr AG, the strategic management holding company, and they are represented with operations in over 25 countries worldwide.