Annual Report (PDF) - Feintool

4
Dear Shareholder
A Good Financial Year with Targets Achieved
It gives us great pleasure to be able to report on a good financial
year 1999/2000. In our core business, we continued to boost
an already strong position and indeed managed to exceed the jump
in sales that had been expected in connection with our new,
strategic acquisitions. Operating profit improved proportionately
to sales, and net profit was higher again too.
Fritz F. Boesch
Chairman of the Board of Directors
Dr Beat E. Lüthi
Chief Executive Officer
Integration of IMA Automation GmbH
and mhk Montagekomponenten Vertriebs-
GmbH, and more recently the Afag Group,
provided a critical boost to the Group’s position
in the field of Assembly/Automation.
Dynamism and success were the key
ingredients of financial year 1999/2000
Sales of the Feintool Group increased by
42.7% in comparison with the previous year
to CHF 427.7 million. About 20% of the
CHF 127.9 million increase in sales was
due to organic growth and about 80% to
acquisitions. The operating result rose by
49.4% to CHF 32.7 million and net profit
improved by 34,5% to CHF 24.7 million.
This means that the ambitious forecasts
made at the beginning of the financial year
were exceeded.
Our traditional Fineblanking/Forming segment
achieved its targets. European companies,
both in the technology sector and in
the Feintool press business, as well as
in components manufacturing, reported very
pleasing growth that more than compensated
for lower-than-expected business in the USA
and Japan. In addition, Heinrich Schmid AG,
the independent market operator that
became part of the Feintool Group on
1 October 1999, achieved its targets under
the new regime.
In the Assembly/Automation segment, the
BalTec Group followed up its successes of
the previous year on the back of a new range
of riveting machines and an innovative
process control system. Sales in Switzerland
were strengthened by the acquisition of
Limatec AG of Grenchen. With the integration
of IMA Automation GmbH, a European technology
leader in assembly/automation, the
Feintool Group achieved a significant expansion
of its second pillar of activities with
effect from 1 January 2000. A successful
player in manufacturing components for
leading mobile phone producers, IMA –
based in Amberg, near Nuremberg – reported
a significant increase in volumes thanks to
major orders. There was also a positive contribution
from mhk Montagekomponenten
Vertriebs-Gmbh, which was integrated into
the Feintool Group with effect from 1 January
2000 and is a very successful distributor
of assembly components in central Europe.
The Plastic/Metal Components segment,
which includes Mühlemann AG, sharply
increased its output in the second half of the
year and met its targets for sales of complex
components for the automotive and electrical
engineering industries. To meet growing
demand from overseas markets as well,
Mühlemann began producing plastic and
metal components at the new Feintool plant
in Tennessee. Work also began on a new
plant in Biberst, which will add capacity.
The currency situation, with a strong dollar
and yen but a rather weak euro, did not have
a significant negative effect on the Group’s