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Oerlikon Continues Strong Profitable Sales Growth

21 Oct '11

5 min read

• Sales rose by 24 % to CHF 3 078 million (9M 2010: CHF 2 476 million)
• Order backlog grew by 7% to CHF 1 694 million (9M 2010: CHF 1 583 million)
• Order intake was stable at CHF 3 189 million (9M 2010:CHF 3 195 million)

Oerlikon Group posted a strong increase in sales in the first nine months of 2011 on double-digit sales growth across four Segments. All regions delivered sales growth, primarily driven by significant increases in Asia. Although order intake was stable year-on-year, certain Segments showed robust order growth. Streamlining of the Group's portfolio continued in the third quarter with the closing of the Carding divestment.

Dr. Michael Buscher, CEO of Oerlikon Group, said: “Oerlikon's nine-month performance reflects disciplined execution of our strategy. We are benefiting from the systematic implementation of our operational excellence initiatives, with an increasingly efficient conversion from orders to sales. The growth in sales is also based on our high emerging market penetration and our strong innovation pipeline.” Oerlikon Group CFO Jürg Fedier said: "We continue to see improvements in our underlying performance and profitability. As a result, we are raising our profitability guidance.”

Segments maintain high order intake level

Oerlikon launched more than ten new product platforms in the first nine months of 2011. Although order intake was stable year-on-year, certain Segments demonstrated strength, particularly Coating, which saw a significant 19 percent increase in orders, and Drive Systems with a 12 percent increase. Group order backlog grew 7 percent year-on-year, underpinned by Textile's solid backlog and a particularly strong 45 percent increase at Drive Systems. Oerlikon's broad portfolio mix, new products, as well as the Group's increased presence in high growth regions - with more than 150 sites around the globe - are contributing to this order intake following the high demand in 2010. The Group continued to invest consistently in R&D in the first nine months, with R&D spend reaching CHF 159 million, representing 5 percent of sales, compared to CHF 174 million reached in the previous-year.

Focusing the portfolio continues

Adjustments to focus the Group's portfolio continued in the third quarter as Oerlikon closed the divestments of the Carding unit and Coating's heat treatment division in France in order to focus on businesses which are able to fulfill Oerlikon's expectations on long-term growth and profitability.

Outlook 2011

The global economic environment remains uncertain but with Oerlikon's broad portfolio mix, high emerging market penetration, strong innovation pipeline and operational discipline, the Group is now better positioned to tackle challenges and to achieve its financial targets. Oerlikon is confirming its previous sales and order intake guidance (based on current foreign exchange rates) and increasing its profitability guidance for the full year 2011. The EBIT margin is now expected to exceed 9 percent, compared to a previous EBIT margin estimate of between 8 and 9 percent. Therefore, for full year 2011, compared to 2010, the Oerlikon Group expects:
• Sales to grow by up to 10 %
• Order intake to decline by around 10 %
• EBIT margin to exceed 9 %

Oerlikon Textile:

Sales at the world's leading manufacturer of textile machines and components were excellent, growing 34 percent on the back of business at Oerlikon Barmag and Oerlikon Schlafhorst, market demand for man-made fibers and numerous new product launches. The Segment's backlog remained solid as a robust order backlog in the man-made fiber business (Barmag), fueled an 11 percent increase. Order intake was down 10 percent as expected, as demand in the natural fiber business shows the first signs of stabilizing at a normalized level. In the third quarter, Textile launched seven new textile machines at the 2011 ITMA trade fair that help customers improve efficiency, flexibility and quality, while reducing energy consumption, through energy savings of up to 50 percent and productivity gains of up to 25 percent. The Segment won a contract to deliver