KSB: Pumps and valves market to remain difficult in 2010
6 Apr 2010
Frankenthal, Germany – Pumps and valves maker KSB has posted a 14% drop in pretax earnings to Euro172.8 million in financial year, on fiscal 2009 sales 5% lower at Euro1,892.8 million. The result, said chairman Dr Wolfgang Schmitt, was significantly better performance than many comparable mechanical engineering companies.
Falling demand due to the global economic crisis left order intake considerably lower for pumps and valves used in building services or industrial processes. While KSB’s longer-term project business partially compensated for this decline orders fell 11.2% overall to Euro1,934.0 million.
The pumps and valves manufacturer largely maintained its headcount at the prior-year levels (– 0.7%), with 14,249 employees worldwide as at the end of 2009, but significantly reduced the number of contract employees.
The market environment is expected to remain difficult in the current year, and that the standard and project businesses will stabilise at the level achieved in 2009, KSB said. Late cyclical effects and increasing pressure on prices could hamper the project business, it added.
The Germany company anticipates that order intake and sales revenue will range at prior-year levels in 2010, but is not ruling out a slight decline in performance. In the first two months of 2010, it said figures were still below those of the previous year, though it continues to have a high level of orders in hand worth about one billion euros.
Similarly, KSB expects a decline in earnings in 2010, largely due to increasing pressure on prices and higher depreciation and amortisation charges for major investments made in the previous years.
KSB is to pursue intensive cost and liquidity management in 2010, while continuing to plans to initiate some 125 strategic projects with a focus on technical and sales aspects. KSB will launch over half of these projects until the end of 2010.
