Annual Report 2007 - Muehlhan AG

ManageMent divisions share Group ManaGeMent report Group Consolidated FinanCial stateMents
about one year ago, Muehlhan aG published its first annual report after the
initial public offering. Several events that shaped our activities, and above
all our profits for the 2007 fiscal year, were already casting their shadows at
that time. over the course of the past twelve months, many of those circumstances
have developed into tangible operational challenges for our Group,
and therefore had to be addressed.
Considerable organizational cuts were required in the uSa. by the middle
of the year, we initiated measures with which we reduced costs and reset
our course back to productivity and profitability. as a result of the experience,
we have also introduced improved management and control mechanisms
throughout the Group. in the future, they will contribute to increased
efficiency for operational processes, and in principle will also make strategic
adjustments easier. initial positive effects were already measurable in 2007:
after months of losses, we were able to post balanced operational results
for the uSa again in the second half of the year for the first time.
using new internal financing structures, starting in 2008 we will be able
to significantly reduce the extent of currency effects, which significantly
reduced profit in 2007 as a result of the weak uS dollar in particular.
We already see that the measures are working in the trend of our numbers.
Muehlhan was able to stop the negative income trend by the middle of
the year, and the company had pre-tax profit of Eur 0.4 million as of the
3rd quarter. in the last quarter of 2007, income considered separately
was again more than Eur 1 million after taxes.
C. Ennemann, dr a. C. Krüger, b. Janssen (f. l. t. r.)
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