Technologies · Systems · Solutions - Dürr

Letter from the Chairman
of the Board of Management
Stephan Rojahn
Ladies and gentlemen,
The Dürr Group achieved earnings before taxes of € 11.8 million in 2004. With this
improvement of about € 18 million compared with the previous year, we managed to
make the turnaround that we sought, but did not meet our substantially higher earnings
target, which would have supported a dividend payout. The critical factor involved
was that we had to absorb unscheduled expenditures that arose from the handling of
particular orders in the Final Assembly Systems and Ecoclean business units.
We nevertheless made further progress in the reorientation of the company. The
earnings enhancement program enabled us to improve our cost position
again. We also advanced the integration of the Group by means of the successful
squeeze-out of minority shareholders at Carl Schenck AG. Finally, the corporate bond
placed in July 2004 and a new syndicated loan have put our financing on a long-term
foundation.
More efficiency with a lean Group structure
To increase our competitiveness and earning power, we have introduced a more
streamlined and strongly customer-oriented corporate structure as of March 1, 2005. It
enables us to accelerate and improve processes within the Group and simultaneously
increase our market muscle. Our activities are now bundled in two divisions: Paint
and Assembly Systems, which represents the systems and plant engineering business
particularly with the automotive industry, and Measuring and Process Systems,
which comprises our activities in mechanical engineering with the Schenck and Dürr
Ecoclean brands.
In a second step, we are parting with business areas that are outside our core portfolio.
We will put the Development Test Systems product line, which supplies high-end testing
technology for vehicle development, into a minority shareholding or sell it. For the
Services business unit, represented by the Premier Group, we have already found