GEIGER TECHNIK
Automotive supplier said to be in negotiations with equity investor / Debt service leads to losses
Business still looks bleak for German family-owned automotive supplier Geiger technik (Garmisch-Partenkirchen; www.geigertechnik.de), which is in the throes of restructuring. With sales of just over EUR 100m in 2007, the company is thought likely to have incurred losses again, as in 2006. Faced with EUR 43.2m in debt (31.12.2006), Geiger is believed to be in talks with investors, possibly from India, about acquiring a majority stake.
According to local press reports, employees at the Murnau / Germany production site were recently informed of further job cuts, and it is thought that the workforce has been asked to waive vacation pay and Christmas bonuses. However, neither managing partner Albert M. Geiger nor works council head Wolfgang Nebli was prepared to comment on this to PIE.
Geiger regards itself as the market and technology leader in coolant lines manufactured using gas and water injection technology. Its portfolio also includes injection moulded tanks for coolants, brake fluids, water and oil, and air ducts for vehicle interiors and for raw, filtered and charge air.
Figures for 2006 show that the small group of companies organised under a holding generated sales of EUR 104.3m, down from EUR 110m in 2005. Germany accounted for nearly 70% of sales and most of the remainder was generated in the EU. The group reported an operating loss of EUR 800,000 (after a profit of EUR 70,000 in 2005) and a net loss of EUR 1.5m after a loss of EUR 166,000.
Alongside the holding, the group, which employs 858, includes the main operating company Geiger technik, and wholly owned subsidiaries Reckziegel Formenbau, Gaplast Gesellschaft für Kunststoffverarbeitung and Geiger technik Polska (Sosnowiec / Poland). Since restructuring began in 2006, Geiger has been trying to gain a foothold in markets outside the automotive sector as well as in the Americas. According to the report, it is pursuing joint ventures in Brazil and Mexico. Production of brake fluid tanks has been relocated from Germany to Poland, where EUR 6m has been invested in a new facility.
According to local press reports, employees at the Murnau / Germany production site were recently informed of further job cuts, and it is thought that the workforce has been asked to waive vacation pay and Christmas bonuses. However, neither managing partner Albert M. Geiger nor works council head Wolfgang Nebli was prepared to comment on this to PIE.
Geiger regards itself as the market and technology leader in coolant lines manufactured using gas and water injection technology. Its portfolio also includes injection moulded tanks for coolants, brake fluids, water and oil, and air ducts for vehicle interiors and for raw, filtered and charge air.
Figures for 2006 show that the small group of companies organised under a holding generated sales of EUR 104.3m, down from EUR 110m in 2005. Germany accounted for nearly 70% of sales and most of the remainder was generated in the EU. The group reported an operating loss of EUR 800,000 (after a profit of EUR 70,000 in 2005) and a net loss of EUR 1.5m after a loss of EUR 166,000.
Alongside the holding, the group, which employs 858, includes the main operating company Geiger technik, and wholly owned subsidiaries Reckziegel Formenbau, Gaplast Gesellschaft für Kunststoffverarbeitung and Geiger technik Polska (Sosnowiec / Poland). Since restructuring began in 2006, Geiger has been trying to gain a foothold in markets outside the automotive sector as well as in the Americas. According to the report, it is pursuing joint ventures in Brazil and Mexico. Production of brake fluid tanks has been relocated from Germany to Poland, where EUR 6m has been invested in a new facility.
25.06.2008 Plasteurope.com [211122]
Published on 25.06.2008
German version of this article...