Dürr increases stake in Dürr-AIS S.A. to 100 %

05/03/2001

Effective from April 30, 2001, Dürr Systems GmbH, a fully owned subsidiary of Dürr AG has acquired a further 50% interest in Dürr-AIS S.A. (until February 2000: Alstom Automation S.A.), Paris, and has thus increased its stake in the leading French supplier of paint systems to 100 %. In February last year Dürr had initially acquired 50 % of the shares of Alstom Automation.

In the fiscal year 2001 the Dürr-AIS Group expects to achieve sales of over EUR 200 m with about 500 employees.

With the acquisition of Dürr-AIS, Dürr has expanded its leading world market position as supplier of complete paint systems for mass production in the automotive industry, and has significantly improved its access to the market of French car manufacturers. After major contracts from Peugeot Citroen Automobiles and Renault in the year 2000, Dürr is expecting to receive further systems contracts from France in the coming months.

The Dürr Technological Group is one of the leading global suppliers of production systems and manufacturing support systems to the automotive industry and its component suppliers. Under the strategic leadership of Dürr AG, the business units Paint Systems, Automotion, Environmental, Ecoclean, Services and INTX plus the Carl Schenck Group have operations in 26 countries around the globe. In the fiscal year 2000, the Dürr Group achieved sales of EUR 2,042 m (+ 67 % / previous year EUR 1,224 m). EBITDA rose by 83.3% to EUR 119.8 m (previous year EUR 65.4 m); earnings before tax totaled EUR 46.3 m (+ 30.0 % / previous year EUR 35.6 m). At the end of 2000 Dürr employed 11,558 people world-wide.