.
- Q1 sales rising 29 percent
- EBIT advancing even faster by 59 percent
- Prospects for 2008 reaffirmed
Vossloh AG raised its Q1/2008 sales by 29 percent to €344.8 million versus Q1/2007. EBIT grew even faster, by 59 percent to €32.9 million. Group earnings surged 62 percent to €19.4 million.
ROCE, a prime performance controlling indicator likewise improved apprecia-bly, from 12.9 to 14.7 percent, and hence falling only just short of the 15-percent corporate benchmark.
The sales increase achieved in the first three months was at almost 50 percent de-rived from organic growth and just over one half from the acquisitions of 2007 and 2008, with the latter impacting only slightly. In early January Vossloh had taken over the Danish market leader in rail switch production, Sportek Maskin-fabrik A/S, followed in February by the acquisition of the Dutch switch manufac-turer Kloos Oving B.V.
Says Werner Andree, CEO of Vossloh AG: "Our solid performance in the first quarter confirms our expectations that we will achieve the ambitious results budgeted for 2008. We are happy to note that once more both divisions showed clear double-digit growth rates."
More and more business outside of Europe
Vossloh is pressing ahead with its efforts to internationalize business. The share of non-European sales rose from around 13 to just under 24 percent. The target is 30 percent.
Rail Infrastructure
Q1 sales by Rail Infrastructure added up to €203.8 million, up 38 percent. A large share of this growth was contributed by the Switch Systems business unit whose sales at €116.9 million rose by around 70 percent. Accounting for this were not only the group newcomers in the USA, Australia, Denmark and the Netherlands but also substantial sales increases from the shipment of switch sys-tems destined for high-speed lines in southern Europe and metro rail contracts.
At €31.8 million, sales at Vossloh Fastening Systems were just short of the year-earlier €33.5 million, chiefly due to the Q1/2008 delays in the construction pro-gress of the Chinese high-speed lines.
Q1 sales by the Infrastructure Services business unit amounted to €56.4 million, up 16 percent, including a bigger contribution from the ETF Group, fully con-solidated only since July 2007 and in Q1/2007 only at 50 percent.
In all, the Rail Infrastructure division generated an EBIT of €26.7 million, up 58 percent.
Motive Power&Components
This division produced Q1 sales of €141.0 million in 2008, 18 percent up over the already high year-earlier level. Both business units contributed to the rise.
The Locomotive business unit generated Q1 sales of €103.9 million, up by 12 percent over 2007. Both the Valencia and Kiel locations raised their sales in the period.
Vossloh Electrical Systems boosted its sales by 38 percent to €37.1 million, mainly thanks to megaorders from Vancouver for articulated buses and from Dortmund for trams.
The Motive Power&Components division lifted its EBIT at a rate steeper than sales, by 43 percent to €10.7 million.
Employees
At March 31, 2008, the Vossloh Group employed a worldwide workforce of 6,170, up 1,269 or 25.9 percent over the figure for March 31, 2007, primarily due to the acquirees.
Prospects
In presenting its Q1 figures, Vossloh reaffirmed its forecasts for 2008 and 2009 published in December 2007 and confirmed in April on the occasion of the an-nual accounts press conference: for all of 2008, sales in the region of €1,340 mil-lion, an EBIT of about €142 million and group earnings of around €91 million; for 2009, further growth and continued profitability.
- Q1 sales rising 29 percent
- EBIT advancing even faster by 59 percent
- Prospects for 2008 reaffirmed
Vossloh AG raised its Q1/2008 sales by 29 percent to €344.8 million versus Q1/2007. EBIT grew even faster, by 59 percent to €32.9 million. Group earnings surged 62 percent to €19.4 million.
ROCE, a prime performance controlling indicator likewise improved apprecia-bly, from 12.9 to 14.7 percent, and hence falling only just short of the 15-percent corporate benchmark.
The sales increase achieved in the first three months was at almost 50 percent de-rived from organic growth and just over one half from the acquisitions of 2007 and 2008, with the latter impacting only slightly. In early January Vossloh had taken over the Danish market leader in rail switch production, Sportek Maskin-fabrik A/S, followed in February by the acquisition of the Dutch switch manufac-turer Kloos Oving B.V.
Says Werner Andree, CEO of Vossloh AG: "Our solid performance in the first quarter confirms our expectations that we will achieve the ambitious results budgeted for 2008. We are happy to note that once more both divisions showed clear double-digit growth rates."
More and more business outside of Europe
Vossloh is pressing ahead with its efforts to internationalize business. The share of non-European sales rose from around 13 to just under 24 percent. The target is 30 percent.
Rail Infrastructure
Q1 sales by Rail Infrastructure added up to €203.8 million, up 38 percent. A large share of this growth was contributed by the Switch Systems business unit whose sales at €116.9 million rose by around 70 percent. Accounting for this were not only the group newcomers in the USA, Australia, Denmark and the Netherlands but also substantial sales increases from the shipment of switch sys-tems destined for high-speed lines in southern Europe and metro rail contracts.
At €31.8 million, sales at Vossloh Fastening Systems were just short of the year-earlier €33.5 million, chiefly due to the Q1/2008 delays in the construction pro-gress of the Chinese high-speed lines.
Q1 sales by the Infrastructure Services business unit amounted to €56.4 million, up 16 percent, including a bigger contribution from the ETF Group, fully con-solidated only since July 2007 and in Q1/2007 only at 50 percent.
In all, the Rail Infrastructure division generated an EBIT of €26.7 million, up 58 percent.
Motive Power&Components
This division produced Q1 sales of €141.0 million in 2008, 18 percent up over the already high year-earlier level. Both business units contributed to the rise.
The Locomotive business unit generated Q1 sales of €103.9 million, up by 12 percent over 2007. Both the Valencia and Kiel locations raised their sales in the period.
Vossloh Electrical Systems boosted its sales by 38 percent to €37.1 million, mainly thanks to megaorders from Vancouver for articulated buses and from Dortmund for trams.
The Motive Power&Components division lifted its EBIT at a rate steeper than sales, by 43 percent to €10.7 million.
Employees
At March 31, 2008, the Vossloh Group employed a worldwide workforce of 6,170, up 1,269 or 25.9 percent over the figure for March 31, 2007, primarily due to the acquirees.
Prospects
In presenting its Q1 figures, Vossloh reaffirmed its forecasts for 2008 and 2009 published in December 2007 and confirmed in April on the occasion of the an-nual accounts press conference: for all of 2008, sales in the region of €1,340 mil-lion, an EBIT of about €142 million and group earnings of around €91 million; for 2009, further growth and continued profitability.
