Reading time: 2 minutesWattwil, October 30, 2007. The expansion of the production sites in Canada, Spain and China will – against prior expectations – again impact Group earnings in the second half of the year. After the massive raw material cost increases, Gurit has renegotiated a series of sales contracts with higher selling prices. These increases will, however, only strengthen profitability substantially in 2008.
Gurit thus expects to achieve a negative operational EBIT for the second half of 2007 and at best a balanced operational result for the full year.
Change in Management to sustainably strengthen profitability.
The existing management team led by Jouni Heinonen has positioned Gurit as a leading supplier of high-end composites in global growth markets. As from November 1, 2007, a new management team led by Rudolf Hadorn as Chief Executive Officer and Markus Knuesli as Chief Financial Officer is to bring Gurit operationally and financially back to sustainable profitability. The target is to establish an organization which is able to sustainably leverage the Group’s substantial growth potential. As announced in April 2007, Markus Knuesli has already taken on the position of Chief Financial Officer.
Continued sales growth
Gurit reports a sales increase of 20.4% to CHF 111 million for the third quarter. This translates into a sales increase of 19.6% to CHF 355 million for the first nine months. Sales related to Wind Energy applications grew by 40% to CHF 187 million in the first nine months. This represents 56% of Group sales. With CHF 45 million, sales to Transportation (13.5% of sales) markets were 2% below last year’s figure for the first nine months. Shipments to Marine, Sport & Civil Engineering markets were 1% below last year’s figure and stood at CHF 92 million for the first nine months.
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Source: Gurit-Heberlein AG, Press release