KSB Group Achieves Earnings of € 200 Million
At its financial press conference in Frankenthal, pumps and valves manufacturer KSB reported record earnings (EBT) of € 200.1 million on 28 April. Both the sales revenue of € 1,991.7 million and the 10.0 percent return on sales far exceeded the expectations voiced at the beginning of the financial year.
With a growth of 12.7 percent to € 2,179.0 million, KSB’s order intake passed the two billion euro mark for the first time in 2008. Two-thirds of this € 244.7 million growth was attributable to the orders which the Group received from customers in the energy and water sectors.
With consolidated earnings before taxes of € 200.1 million, KSB achieved a 55.5 percent improvement in performance. Since the pre-tax earnings of the parent, KSB AG, (in accordance with HGB) also showed a strong improvement of € 52.8 million, the Board of Management and Supervisory Board will be proposing to the Annual General Meeting to increase the dividend to € 12.50 per ordinary share and € 12.76 per preference share.
In the current financial year, KSB overall needs to adjust to a markedly changed market environment. This is outlined in the company’s interim report for the first quarter presented at the financial press conference. While the consolidated sales revenue from January to March 2009 grew by 8.4 percent to € 470.8 million compared with the same quarter in the previous year, the Group order intake in the first three months of 2009 fell by 11.3 percent to € 512.7 million.
However, Dr. Wolfgang Schmitt, Chairman of the Board of Management feels the KSB Group is well equipped overall for the new demand situation. In addition to a high level of orders in hand (around € 990 million), KSB has a “solid financial base” and “broad-based market foundation”. In the present situation, he said, it is a particular advantage that KSB is “broadly positioned” in the market both regionally and in terms of market sectors. This enables the company to align capacity in sales and production increasingly to those business lines that are less heavily affected by the economic slump. But in view of the uncertainty of current economic forecasts, it is not yet possible to foresee how demand in some sectors will develop in the coming months and what the impact will be on order intake.
About KSB
KSB is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of pumps, valves and related systems for industrial applications and building services, for water and waste water management and for the energy and mining sectors. The Group has a presence on all five continents with its own sales and marketing organisations, manufacturing facilities and service operations.
Source: KSB SE & Co. KGaA
