Contents Editorial 3 Strategy and Organisation 4 Milestones in <strong>2010</strong> 5 Cable Systems 6 Components 7 Overhead Lines 8 Railway Catenary Systems 9 Finances 10 Technology and Product Highlights 12 Project Highlights 14
GROUP Editorial Traditionally, a glance at the state of the general business environment is a helpful way of determining the efficiency of one’s own corporate performance. However, the experience of the past three years has shown that the accustomed interdependencies now only apply to a limited degree. Management Board and Supervisory Board (from left to right) Prof. Dr Wolfgang Blättchen Karl-Heinz <strong>Pfisterer</strong> Dorothee Hertweck Dr Konstantin O. Papailiou Dr Jost Baumgärtner Dr Thomas Klein Following the most serious world economic slump of the post-war era in 2009, a rather sluggish recovery was generally anticipated and the surprisingly strong growth in <strong>2010</strong> was primarily driven by catch-up effects in the aftermath of the crisis. The German Council of Economic Experts now deems the world economy to be in a recovery phase: following a downturn in GDP of 4.2% in the European Union states in 2009, it proceeded to rise in this region by an average of 1.7% in <strong>2010</strong>. At 3.6%, growth in Germany was significantly above average. German economic research institutes are anticipating moderate growth ranging between 2.0% and 2.5% for 2011, roughly similar to the growth forecasts for the EU, the IMF and the OECD. Following a moderate decline of 1.5% in (consolidated) sales revenue in 2009, the PFISTERER-Group again recorded a significant 6.8% increase in sales in <strong>2010</strong>. Contrary to the “V-cycle” typical of many industries (a big drop in sales followed by strong growth), following its “lateral performance” in 2009, the PFISTERER- Group has been able to sustain its growth on a par with the prospective growth within its branch of industry. Following a decline in 2009, in line with the development of GDP and driven by catch-up effects, the worldwide consumption of electrical power rose by over 3% in <strong>2010</strong>. In the long term, the International Energy Agency (IEA World Energy Outlook <strong>2010</strong>) expects an annual increase in global power consumption of 2.2%, primarily driven by the hunger of the emerging countries for energy. The IEA anticipates that in the course of the next 15 years, China will be putting a greater power station capacity into operation than that currently installed in the USA. At the same time, to date 1.4 billion people, i.e. approximately one fifth of the world’s population, still do not have access to electricity. Furthermore, these two factors driving growth in our industry are complemented by the necessity to enable the production of renewable energy by building urgently needed new power supply lines. Apart from the regular reports from the Centres of Competence (CoCs), this year in our <strong>Annual</strong> <strong>Report</strong> we have focused on describing “technological highlights” with regard to production and a number of specific projects. Against the background of the four-pillar strategy of “innovation, quality, flexibility and customer proximity”, these examples underline the highly sophisticated technological level of PFISTERER products in terms of both manufacture and application. This high standard is preceded by a long story of success: PFISTERER Kontaktsysteme GmbH in Winterbach, in Germany – the nucleus of the PFISTERER-Group – was established in 1921 and is hence celebrating its 90th anniversary this year. Congratulations and “carry on the good work!” At this point, we sincerely wish to thank Mr Manfred Grässel for the many years of cooperation based on mutual trust, lastly as Chairman of the Supervisory Board of PFISTERER Holding AG up to the <strong>Annual</strong> General Meeting in June <strong>2010</strong>. We wish Mr Grässel all the very best for his well-deserved retirement. As from the <strong>2010</strong> <strong>Annual</strong> General Meeting, Professor Wolfgang Blättchen assumed the Chair of the Supervisory Board. We hope you enjoy your read. Management Board and Supervisory Board 3
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