The pumps and valves manufacturer KSB generated consolidated earnings before taxes of 172.8 million Euro in financial year 2009 (previous year: 200.1 million Euro), as Dr Wolfgang Schmitt, Chairman of the Board of Management, reported at the Group’s financial press conference in Frankenthal, Germany. Although this is below the record earnings achieved in the previous year, it does point to a significantly better performance than many comparable mechanical engineering companies. The Group achieved a 9.1% return on sales (previous year: 10.0 %).
Falling demand due to the global economic crisis affected KSB’s standard business in particular in 2009. Order intake was considerably lower for pumps and valves used in building services or industrial processes. The longer-term project business was only partially able to compensate for this decline. Overall, KSB therefore posted a fall of 11.2% in order intake to 1,934.0 million Euro for the first time following five years of strong growth.
KSB expects the market environment to remain difficult in the current year, and that the standard and project businesses will stabilise at the level achieved in 2009. However, late cyclical effects and increasing pressure on prices could hamper the project business.
KSB anticipates that order intake and sales revenue will range at prior-year levels in 2010. The company is not, however, ruling out a slight decline in performance under unfavourable conditions. In the first two months of 2010, figures were still below those of the previous year. The Group continues to have a high level of orders in hand worth approximately one billion euros.
Share:
