Annual Report 2001 - Bohler Uddeholm materializing visions

Directors’ Report 2001
Sales in m€
1,242
1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001
EBITDA in m€
152.3
EBIT in m€
96.9
1,352
1,317 1,297
168.8
109.9
174.2
113.1
150.1
86.7
1,483
199.5
125.7
16 BÖHLER-UDDEHOLM Annual Report 2001
1,509
203.3
1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001
132.1
1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001
In key BÖHLER-UDDEHOLM markets
throughout Europe, the introduction of the Euro
as cash should strengthen consumer confidence
in economic growth. At the present time, however,
the economic weakness felt during the
reporting year has shown no signs of diminishing.
SALES.
Despite an economic slowdown in key
markets, sales in the BÖHLER-UDDEHOLM Group
reached a level of 1,509.4 m€ for 2001,
which is 2% above the prior year (1,482.7 m€).
In the EU countries, sales rose from 837.8 m€
by 5% to 881.9 m€. In contrast, sales in Asia
declined from 191.6 m€ by 4% to 184.2 m€
and in America from 283.3 m€ by 6% to
267.0 m€.
The EU remained the most important market
for BÖHLER-UDDEHOLM in 2001, representing
58% (57%) of Group sales. This region
was followed by the Americas with 18% (19%)
and Asia with 12% (13%). The share of sales
remained virtually unchanged in other European
countries at 8%, Australia at 3%, and
Africa at 1%.
The core business Special Steel Long Products
generated the largest component of Group
sales with 72.8% (74.4%), followed by Strip
Steel at 11.4% (12.7%), Welding Consumables
at 9.0% (8.9%), and Forging Technology at
6.6% (5.2%). All activities included under
”other“ in the prior year (sales of third party
products, and services such as heat treatment
and machining) were basically allocated to the
Long Products Division in 2001. ”Other/Consolidation“
therefore only includes a limited
number of activities such as IT or services,
which represent 0.2% (0.7%) of total sales.
Sales classified by division are shown in
the table on page 17. After the reorganization
of functions among the members of the Management
Board of BÖHLER-UDDEHOLM AG as
of 2001, sales companies were assigned directly
to the individual divisions and sales and
distribution no longer appears as a separate
segment.
ORDER INTAKE.
Demand was good across all divisions
of the BÖHLER-UDDEHOLM Group during the
first six months of 2001, but order intake fell
significantly during the second half of the
year as expected. This was particularly noticeable
in the Special Steel Long Products and
Strip Steel Divisions, both in the USA and in
Asia. The decline in Asia resulted primarily
from a slowdown in the electronics industry,
while lower demand in the USA was attributable
to the manufacturing and electronics sectors.
The terrorist attacks in the USA on 11 September
2001 also had consequences for BÖH-
LER-UDDEHOLM. Sales to the aircraft industry
were above average up to this date, but then
dropped substantially. In the BÖHLER-UDDE-
HOLM Group, both the Special Steel Long Products
and Forging Technology Divisions are
suppliers to aircraft manufacturers. The Strip
Steel Division suffered a major decline in order