Dürr looks back on a record year

02/21/2012

Preliminary results for 2011

Bietigheim-Bissingen, February 21, 2012 – The Dürr Group bettered all key performance measures year over year in 2011. Incoming orders were up 64% to an all-time high of € 2,684.9 million, with the machinery and plant engineering group benefiting from the automotive industry’s ongoing capacity expansion in China and other emerging markets. Many automobile manufacturers caught up on investments they had shelved during the 2008/2009 crisis. With sales revenues up 52% to € 1,922.0 million, earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) advanced to € 106.5 million, topping the € 100 million mark for the first time. The EBIT margin came to 5.5%. It is to be proposed to increase the dividend to € 1.20 per share, from € 0.30 last year. Tariff employees in Germany will receive a profit-sharing bonus of € 1,500 for 2011. The Group started off the current year with a record order backlog of € 2,142.7 million.

In 2011, Dürr generated 65% of its incoming orders in the emerging markets. Roughly one-third of all the orders came from China, where Dürr has over 1,400 employees (including hired external labor). Demand also picked up appreciably in North America. The earnings improvement resulted from the strong growth in sales revenues and associated scale effects combined with a moderate development of costs. The financial result improved by € 3.4 million to € -20.7 million. This was mainly due to the improved financing structure with the corporate bond issued in 2010. With an effective tax rate of 25.1%, net profit for the year comes to € 64.3 million.

Continuing with its innovation strategy, Dürr increased its R&D spend by 14.4% to € 29.5 million. Capital expenditure rose to € 43.0 million (2010: € 28.7 million). Just under € 20 million of that was on acquisitions: Dürr acquired equity interests of 55% in the Danish filling equipment specialist Agramkow and 10% in the Japanese paint systems engineer Parker Engineering. In addition, the Clean Technology Systems division, which specializes in energy efficiency, acquired a 50% stake in the technology firm Cyplan, which specializes in the production of electricity from waste heat.

Operating cash flow grew by € 72.5 million to € 127.9 million. This was mainly due, on the one hand, to the improvement in earnings while, on the other hand, net working capital increased only marginally despite the strong growth in business. In November 2011, Dürr acquired its headquarters in Bietigheim-Bissingen which the company had previously leased. Despite the acquisition cost of € 51 million, the Group had net cash of € 51.8 million as of the reporting date. Owing to the growth in earnings, equity increased by 14% to € 364.3 million.

In 2011, Dürr hired 792 additional employees worldwide; another 116 employees were added by the Agramkow acquisition. Of the Group’s total workforce of 6,823 employees, the emerging markets account for 31% and Germany for 46%. 197 new jobs were created at the German locations.

Outlook

The strong demand continued in the first weeks of the current year. Dürr therefore expects the market environment in the automotive industry to remain positive. The North American market, too, is witnessing gratifying growth. Thus, Dürr is able to amply offset the weaker demand in Western Europe, which accounted for only 9% of orders (without Germany) in 2011.

Judged from today’s vantage point, order intake should top the € 2 billion mark this year. Sales revenues are expected to be up at least 5% to over € 2 billion. This is supported by the high order backlog and Dürr’s strong position in the emerging markets. Earnings should again outpace sales revenues; an EBIT margin of 5.5 to 6.0% is targeted for 2012. The number of employees will probably rise by about 300. Besides the emerging markets, additional jobs should also be created in Germany.

All the figures stated are preliminary figures and have not been audited. They have not yet been approved by the Supervisory Board.

 KEY FIGURES (IFRS)¹

Immaterial variances may occur in the computation of sums and percentages due to rounding.

¹ The interest cost from the valuation of pension obligations was reclassified in 2011. The prior-year figures have been adjusted accordingly.

² Dividend proposal

 

Dürr is a mechanical and plant engineering group that holds leading positions in the world market in its areas of operation. It generates a good 80% of its sales in business with the automotive industry. It also supplies the aircraft, machinery, chemical, and pharmaceutical industries with innovative production and environmental technology. The Dürr Group operates in the market with four divisions. Paint and Assembly Systems plans and builds paintshops and final assembly systems for the automobile industry. Application Technology provides automated paint application with its robot technologies. Machinery and systems from the Measuring and Process Systems division are used in engine and transmission manufacturing and in final vehicle assembly, among other areas. The fourth division, Clean Technology Systems, is focused on processes to improve energy efficiency and on exhaust air purification. Dürr has 49 business locations in 22 countries worldwide. The Group achieved sales of € 1.9 billion with approximately 6,800 employees in 2011.