Munich, 17 June 2011 – After the difficult years in 2008 and 2009 caused by the recession SURTECO SE was able to continue the good successes of previous years. This was the conclusion reported by Friedhelm Päfgen, Chairman of the Board of Management of SURTECO SE, at this year’s Annual General Meeting of the Group in Munich. The specialist for surface technologies ranks among the leading suppliers to the construction and furniture industries. It has succeeded in exploiting the dynamic economic environment in order to expand its business significantly in the second half of 2010.
Overall, the company was able to increase sales by 14 % to € 388.8 million compared with the previous year. Nevertheless, differing development trends were identified in the individual regions. Domestic business went up by nearly five percent with sales of € 127.3 million. European business rose by 17 % to € 169.2 million. The development in America was also gratifying with growth of 16 % to € 47.0 million. Once again, the Asia-Pacific region demonstrated exceptionally dynamic growth, with expectations being significantly exceeded given an increase in sales amounting to 31 %.
As a result of the sales increases, EBITDA also improved by 15 % to € 62.5 million. The financial result for 2010 was minus € 9.6 million after minus € 16.9 million in 2009. Earnings before tax achieved an increase of 82 % and amounts to € 32.0 million. Consolidated net profit developed extremely gratifyingly from € 9.2 million in the previous year to € 21.7 million, corresponding to an increase of 135 %.
The net debt in the Group remained virtually unchanged at € 123.2 million. The gearing ratio continued to improve from 64 % to 58 %. The balance sheet with an increase of 4.5 percentage points in the equity ratio to 44.3 % combines with the income statement to provide an impressive testimony to the fact that SURTECO has emerged strengthened from the most serious economic and financial crisis of the post-war period.
The shareholders of SURTECO should also benefit from the increase in consolidated net profit. The Annual General Meeting agreed with the proposal to increase the dividend from the previous year’s value of 40 cents to 90 cents per share. However, the share price has also demonstrated a gratifying development. An increase of 32 % means that the SURTECO share significantly outperformed German and European equity markets in 2010.
“While focusing on overcoming the crisis, we have also been concerned to drive forward strategic development of the company,” continued the Chairman of the Board of Management. In May 2010, a sales company was established in Spain which will sell all the products in the SURTECO range. SURTECO expects the acquisition of the refining and finishing business of ‘impress decor GmbH’ in June 2010 to generate additional sales revenues amounting to some € 15 million. In October, the project “SHAPE 2012” was initiated with the objective of increasing the earning power of the Strategic Business Unit Plastics over the long term. Finally, the production facilities of Coastal Paper – a North American foil manufacturer – were taken over in November 2010 and incorporated in a company specially established for this purpose.
The positive development has continued during the course of the present business year. Sales rose by 20 % to € 108.0 million in the first quarter of this year. Once again, the Asia-Pacific region led the way by comparison with the other regions, with an increase of 30 %. Domestic business went up by 16 % to € 36.5 million, a significantly stronger increase than in the previous year. However, although this business trend is gratifying, Päfgen is assuming that the earthquake in Japan and the tense political situation in North Africa may continue to depress the company’s figures as the year progresses. As far as the year 2011 as a whole is concerned, modest growth in sales – adjusted by changes in exchange rates – therefore looks likely provided that the macroeconomic framework conditions do not deteriorate and there is no significant volatility in raw-materials and currency markets.
