TEMPUS program at Saurer Textile saves over Euro 50mn
10 Mar '06
3 min read
Sales were EUR 1 570m (–1.5 percent compared with EUR 1 593m in 2004). The decline in orders compared with a strong prior year is mainly due to reduced demand from China in the Textile Solutions division. Orders and sales in Transmission Systems rose slightly, but not enough to compensate for the decline in Textile Solutions.
Acquisitions contributed only EUR 42m to sales (EUR 41m to orders) in 2005. Saurer's orders on hand as at December 31, 2005, EUR 392m, are 15 percent below the year-end figure of 2004.
The net profit of the period of EUR 55m exceeded that of the previous year by EUR 6m (+12 percent) for continuing operations (prior year EUR 49m plus EUR 18m from the divested Surface Technology).
This was achieved by the cost reductions of the TEMPUS program combined with an improved financial result, lower taxes and the absence of goodwill amortization in 2005. The operating profit (earnings before interest and tax) was EUR 88m (prior year EUR 92m plus EUR 19m from Surface Technology), which corresponds to a margin of 5.6 percent on sales.
For 2006, Saurer does not expect to see organic growth. Our acquisitions of 2005 will however contribute to increased sales in the textile sector (approx. EUR +80m) and to a much larger sales volume in Transmission Systems (approx. +EUR 175m / consolidation of Fairfield from February 2006).
Developments in the volatile textile business are hard to predict, so the forecast of sales of Saurer Textile Solutions contains a degree of uncertainty.
Swiss textile player Saurer Textile is the world market leader for full service solutions in textile machinery and continuousely sets new benchmarks for efficient textile production.