Bertrandt AG posts strong performance

Thursday, 19 December 2002

Bertrandt AG continued its strong prior-year performance in the 2001/2002 financial year, improving many of its key financial figures (IAS). Its Board of Management and Supervisory Board will therefore propose to the AGM on 19 February 2003 that the company pay a dividend of Euro 0.15 per dividend-bearing share. In the current financial year, the company continues to focus on achieving sustained growth in its earnings and its customer base. Targets met in a difficult market environment "We have hit our targets" stressed Dietmar Bichler, Chairman of the Board of Management, at today's annual results press conference in Stuttgart. He pointed out that Bertrandt had benefited from the outsourcing of development services in the automotive industry and that the company's business performance in 2001/2002 was in line with expectations. The market climate during the year under review was difficult, characterised by restructuring on the part of some customers and more demanding requirements in its project business. Despite this, Bertrandt managed to increase the total volume of its projects in Germany and the UK. While market conditions in Spain remained challenging, the company finally achieved the long-anticipated turnaround in France after many difficult years. In Sweden it made preparations to open its branch in Gothenburg. Encouraging response to wide range of services on offer Bichler said that the response to the wide range of services Bertrandt offers at its 19 sites in Europe plus a representative office in the US had again been encouraging during the year under review. Bertrandt, he added, had made necessary modifications to its product range in order to round off its expertise in holistic vehicle development. By integrating its Sindelfingen branch into Bertrandt Technikum GmbH, Ehningen, it completed a strategic process aimed at bundling core competences. Roughly 650 employees at its Technology Centre now perform services ranging from the development of modules to holistic vehicle development. Bertrandt Projektgesellschaft mbH and ENOVIA LCA In order to safeguard the company's continuous development, Bertrandt Projektgesellschaft mbH was established on 1 October 2002, with its registered office in Ehningen. This company will function as a central control unit, coordinating the completion of large-scale projects within the company. In order to ensure that it can handle complex development projects in future, Bertrandt will roll out ENOVIA LCA, a product database management system, with the assistance of IBM and Dassault Systèmes. This will combine and enhance existing systems and processes on a single user platform. Human resources as a key factor driving the company's success In view of the growing demands of project management, the company attached considerable importance to the training and development of its employees during the year under review. A new project management concept was added to the range of existing train-ing schemes, explained Ralph Jacoby, the executive director responsible for finance and human resources. In order to provide the company with an adequately skilled workforce for the future, it stepped up its in-house training and development activities. Sound capital ratio and dividend Bertrandt's annual financial statements were prepared in accordance with International Accounting Standards (IAS) for the first time. During the year under review, the company adjusted its level of capital spending to suit the difficult market climate, stressed Jacoby. Its strong free cash flow was used to pay down long-term debt. At 35 per cent, its capital ratio was sound. The Board of Management and the Supervisory Board will propose to the AGM in Sindelfingen that a dividend of Euro 0.15 per share be paid. The remaining distributable profit of Euro 2,188,025.99 is to be carried forward to the next period. Greater variety of models and shorter development periods Bichler said that carmakers had confirmed their comments on the growing variety of models. As things stand, Bertrandt therefore believes that the trend towards outsourcing development services will continue. This assessment, he claimed, was essentially based on two market trends: the growing variety of models and the shortening of development periods. In view of the difficult economic conditions expected in the automotive industry in 2003, he added, it was difficult to predict what impact this would have on market developments and on the outsourcing strategies of individual car-makers. Nonetheless, the company's goal remained to continue raising its sales and earnings.