UPONOR
Pipe manufacturer raises sales by 8 %/ Earnings hit by high raw material costs and sale of Hewing
Finnish pipe manufacturer Uponor (Vantaa; www.uponor.com) saw profits fall by 32% year-on-year in 2011 to EUR 35.4m due to a combination of high raw material costs, an impairment write-down through the sale of Hewing (Ochtrup / Germany; www.hewing.de) – see Plasteurope.com of 26.01.2012 – and various investment expenditures. The company reported sales up by 7.9% to EUR 806.4m.
In the German-speaking countries, the Finnish company posted a double-digit increase in sales. "We had a strong year during which we managed not only to consolidate our market position in Germany but also to significantly expand our business in Austria and Switzerland," said Heiko Folgmann, the board member responsible for central and eastern Europe. With sales of EUR 150.8m (2010: EUR 122.7m), Germany is by far Uponor's biggest market. The figure does, however, include EUR 20.2m of sales by Zent-Frenger (Heppenheim / Germany; www.zent-frenger.de), a specialist for heating, cooling and geothermal energy, which has now been consolidated after Uponor acquired a majority holding in 2011. The Finnish company's activities in Germany grew organically by 6.4%.
In Switzerland, Uponor more than doubled its sales in the second year after entering the market with its own company. "We have done particularly well with our innovative heating and cooling solutions," explained Folgmann. In Austria, the concrete core activation business increased by more than 25%. On its domestic Finnish market – Uponor's second largest sales market – sales in 2011 climbed by 3.3% to EUR 92.5m. In the United States, negative currency exchange effects nibbled at growth rates, but still left an increase of 4.8% to EUR 88.5m (without currency effects: up 15.3%). Sales in Spain, Norway and Italy declined.
The divestment of Hewing – part of the company's strategic alignment away from a system supplier to a provider of complete solutions for heating/cooling and drinking water plumbing systems – lowered the operating result by EUR 10.5m. As regards investments, Uponor placed a strong focus on Switzerland, including the setting up of two branches, the acquisition of the cooling ceiling business from Tobler (Urdorf / Switzerland; www.toblerag.ch) and the market launch campaign. For 2012, the Uponor management team headed by CEO Jyri Luomakoski is targeting organic sales growth and an operating profit of more than EUR 50m.
e-Service:
Uponor financial statements 2011 briefing as a PDF document
In the German-speaking countries, the Finnish company posted a double-digit increase in sales. "We had a strong year during which we managed not only to consolidate our market position in Germany but also to significantly expand our business in Austria and Switzerland," said Heiko Folgmann, the board member responsible for central and eastern Europe. With sales of EUR 150.8m (2010: EUR 122.7m), Germany is by far Uponor's biggest market. The figure does, however, include EUR 20.2m of sales by Zent-Frenger (Heppenheim / Germany; www.zent-frenger.de), a specialist for heating, cooling and geothermal energy, which has now been consolidated after Uponor acquired a majority holding in 2011. The Finnish company's activities in Germany grew organically by 6.4%.
In Switzerland, Uponor more than doubled its sales in the second year after entering the market with its own company. "We have done particularly well with our innovative heating and cooling solutions," explained Folgmann. In Austria, the concrete core activation business increased by more than 25%. On its domestic Finnish market – Uponor's second largest sales market – sales in 2011 climbed by 3.3% to EUR 92.5m. In the United States, negative currency exchange effects nibbled at growth rates, but still left an increase of 4.8% to EUR 88.5m (without currency effects: up 15.3%). Sales in Spain, Norway and Italy declined.
The divestment of Hewing – part of the company's strategic alignment away from a system supplier to a provider of complete solutions for heating/cooling and drinking water plumbing systems – lowered the operating result by EUR 10.5m. As regards investments, Uponor placed a strong focus on Switzerland, including the setting up of two branches, the acquisition of the cooling ceiling business from Tobler (Urdorf / Switzerland; www.toblerag.ch) and the market launch campaign. For 2012, the Uponor management team headed by CEO Jyri Luomakoski is targeting organic sales growth and an operating profit of more than EUR 50m.
e-Service:
Uponor financial statements 2011 briefing as a PDF document
23.02.2012 Plasteurope.com [221626-0]
Published on 23.02.2012
German version of this article...