The Belimo Group continues to be successful
The Belimo Group, a world leader in the area of electrical actuators for heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems, can look back on a good business year 2003 and again achieved a good result. The sales in local currencies increased by 6.5 percent overall. The net sales in Swiss francs decreased slightly to CHF 236.3 million due to exchange rate influences. The Group net income increased by 18.4 percent to CHF 23.9 million. The return on equity was 22.7 percent, the return on sales (ROS) improved to 14.7 percent.
New products with communication capabilities and operative improvements have contributed to the very satisfying development.
Market position strengthened
The position as a leading manufacturer of electrical actuators for damper adjustment in HVAC installations was further expanded and again strengthened in the business area valves and valve actuators. The sales in the region Asia / Pacific amounted to 42.3 percent in local currency. In the region Americas, the sales growth in local currency was 5.4 percent in spite of the weak industrial growth. In Europe, where the large markets shrank or stagnated, the sales growth in local currency was 4.3 percent. Above average contributions to this growth came from the Baltic Countries, Poland, Russia and Spain.
Whilst the growth expectations for valves and valve actuators in the American market were fulfilled, the expansion in Europe was sluggish and lay overall below the expectations. Asia was able to grow strongly in this business area. In the business area air conditioning, the strongest growth was with safety related actuators for fire protection and smoke extraction. The trend to products with Bus-capabilities is continuing.
Innovation as a precondition for market leadership
In January 2003, Belimo was able to present a whole range of new pressure independent control valves at the ASHRAE, the most important fair for the American market.
A new actuator suitable for lower torque has supplemented Belimo's range of actuators.
Also in 2003, Belimo invested about CHF 13.5 million in research and development. These expenditures were charged fully to the income statement as incurred.
Outlook 2004
Belimo continues to follow a growth strategy, whereby the profitability has priority. With a new, modular actuator concept, Belimo will set new standards in meeting the demand for customer-specific models and standard actuators.
Belimo looks to 2004 with optimism and assumes that sales growth in local currencies is possible in all markets. The strongest growth is again expected in the Asia / Pacific region.
The greatest uncertainties lie in the development of the exchange rates, in particular those of the US Dollar and the Euro.
Key figures of the Belimo Group for the business year 2003
|
in CHF 1,000 |
2003 |
2002 |
Change |
|
Net sales |
236'315 |
237'884 |
-0.7% |
|
Operating income (EBIT)
- in percent of net sales (ROS) |
34'773
14.7% |
33'566
14.1% |
+3.6%
|
|
Net income |
23'856 |
20'152 |
+18.4% |
|
Net income per share in CHF |
37 |
31 |
+19.4% |
|
Dividend per share in CHF |
* 17 |
15 |
+13.3% |
|
Investments |
7'100 |
49'018 |
- 85.5% |
|
Research and development expenditure |
13'511 |
13'281 |
+1.7% |
|
Number of employees (year-end) |
735 |
732 |
+0.4% |
* Proposal to the General Meeting of April 26, 2004
The Belimo Group is a leading global manufacturer of innovative electrical actuator solutions in the heating, ventilation and air-conditioning areas. In the business year 2003, the Group achieved sales of about CHF 240 million and employed over 700 people. Information regarding the Company and its products are available in the Internet under http://www.belimo.ch. The shares of BELIMO Holding AG have been traded on the Swiss Exchange since 1995. (SWX: BEAN)
There is today in the Hotel Widder in Zurich a Media Conference (start 10:30 am) and a Presentation for Analysts (start 2:30 pm) covering the business year 2003.
Contact person
Beat Trutmann, CFO
Telephone: +41 (0)43 843 62 64
Agenda
General Meeting April 26, 2004
Half-year letter to shareholders July 2004
Publication of initial results 2004 February 2005
Year-end media orientation March 21, 2005
General Meeting April 25, 2005
To view BELIMO Holding AG's Annual Report 2003 please click on the link below:
Please find attached the Press Release incl. Tables and Address form in PDF format:
