Trelleborg´s Capital Market Day: Growth targets unchanged
Trelleborg's Capital Market Day Growth targets unchanged "Trelleborg's growth targets stand firm. The Group's goal is to achieve net growth of 15-20 percent per year, of which about 5 percent will be organic," said Trelleborg CEO Fredrik Arp in his opening address to representatives of the capital market in Copenhagen today. He also noted that "Our goal in regard to the company's capital structure, namely a debt/equity ratio of 75-125 percent, is also unchanged and we estimate that a ratio of 50 percent will be reached during 2001." To meet declining demand in several of the Group's markets, measures have been implemented and are still being taken to improve operating efficiency. As noted in the nine-month report, a restructuring program to improve the production structure is currently being evaluated in the Wheel Systems business area. The measures will mainly be applied within Europe and the costs, SEK 160-200 M, will be charged against fourth- quarter earnings, as announced earlier. The payback time is in the region of two years and the results of the measures will be felt as early as 2002. The rationalization measures implemented within Wheel Systems earlier during the current year led to the workforce being reduced by approximately 100 employees. In Trelleborg Automotive, the Group's largest business area, work to integrate the acquired operations of Invensys and Laird Automotive Components (LAC) is continuing to generate effects. In total, five production units have been closed, or are planned to close. As noted in the quarterly reports for 2001, this process has progressed more rapidly than expected and is generating more positive results than anticipated in the annual report for 2000. During 2001, the integration of operations will generate positive effects corresponding to approximately SEK 75 M, about SEK 100 M in 2002 and a further SEK 100 M during 2003/4. To date, the integration work and other rationalization measures have led to a reduction in the workforce of about 300 employees, mainly in Europe. The Building Systems business area has announced that work is continuing to strengthen its market position within roofing products in the Nordic region. The acquired Danish company, Phøenix Tag, is already reporting profitable operations on an annual basis. The efficiency measures introduced in Phøenix Tag and other rationalization programs have led to the number of employees being reduced by approximately 100 persons. In the Engineered Systems business area, an operation in Mexico has been closed down, the roll-coverings operations in Trelleborg have been sold and the efficiency of the hose-distribution operations in North America have been increased, among other measures. The programs have resulted in the number of business area employees being reduced by around 300 persons. Further information can be obtained from Senior Vice President Mikael Byström, telephone: +46 (0)708-55 21 69. Trelleborg is a global industrial group. Operations are based on spearhead competence within polymer materials and a high level of industrial know-how, combined with functional solutions and systems designed to meet the needs of our customers. The Trelleborg Group has annual sales of SEK 19 billion (pro forma, including the most recent acquisitions), with approximately 16,500 employees in 40 countries. Trelleborg consists of four business areas: Trelleborg Automotive, Trelleborg Wheel Systems, Trelleborg Engineered Systems and Trelleborg Building Systems. The Trelleborg share has been quoted on the A list of the Stockholm Exchange since 1964. www.trelleborg.com ------------------------------------------------------------ This information was brought to you by Waymaker http://www.waymaker.net The following files are available for download: http://www.waymaker.net/bitonline/2001/11/15/20011115BIT01380/bit0002.doc http://www.waymaker.net/bitonline/2001/11/15/20011115BIT01380/bit0002.pdf