Annual Report 2003 2004

34
Chemical and cement
plant business played
a major role in high
order intake.
The order intake of the Production Systems business unit was unchanged from the previous year.
MetalCutting recorded a pleasing increase, due not only to improved demand for machine tools but
also to the market success of innovative new products. Orders at Autobody Manufacturing Systems,
on the other hand, were down from the previous year, while Assembly Plant reported a slight improvement.
Overall, sales of Production Systems declined.
Order intake at Plant Technology was significantly up from the already high prior-year level. Chemical
and cement plant business played a major role in this. Uhde won a third contract for a fertilizer complex
in Egypt, and Polysius landed a major contract for a cement factory in Saudi Arabia. The order backlog
of Plant Technology increased by €0.8 billion to €2.8 billion. In line with the very good order situation
the business unit achieved a large increase in sales.
At Marine several new contracts for container ships resulted in another rise in order intake. At the
end of the reporting period the shipyards had an order backlog of €1.7 billion, level with the previous
year. In July 2004, work began on production of the first Corvette 130 for the German Navy. At Blohm
+ Voss, the implementation of the restructuring program proceeded swiftly. Nordseewerke has a good
workload. Marine suffered a fall in sales mainly due to project deferrals at Blohm + Voss.
Mechanical Engineering reported a decline in order intake and sales, but only because of the disposals
of Novoferm, Polymer and Henschel. Excluding the disposals, the business situation improved significantly
in almost all areas.
The Transrapid business unit reported a reduced order intake. Sales were higher than a year earlier
due to the billing of the Shanghai contract.
Services: Successful start
Sales million €
Materials Services Europe
Materials Services North America
Industrial Services
Special Products
Construction Services
Total
Consolidation
Services
All figures relate to continuing operations.
2002/2003
In the reporting period, the newly formed Services segment achieved sales of €11.9 billion. This 12%
improvement resulted mainly from the exceptionally high level of demand on the international raw and
processed material markets. Sales of €409 million were generated by discontinued operations.
Sales at the Materials Services Europe business unit increased significantly thanks to higher prices
for rolled and stainless steel. Our stockholding companies in Central and Eastern Europe, in particular
Poland and Hungary but also the Czech Republic, performed extremely well and recorded substantial
growth compared with the prior year. Activities in Poland were augmented by a new central warehouse;
we also established a company in Russia. Our service activities in several Western European countries
4,682
1,411
1,312
3,149
131
10,685
(82)
10,603
2003/2004
5,258
1,499
1,280
3,885
0
11,922
(35)
11,887