Healthy rise in Krones’ earnings during the first half of 2011

During the first half of 2011, Krones AG, the world’s market leader for beverage filling and packaging technology, achieved significant increases in all important ratios compared with the preceding year. The company has been profiting from the cyclical upturn and the extensive initiatives, like more efficient production methods, it has taken to upgrade its corporate performance. Krones’ business gained significantly in dynamism throughout almost all sales regions during the first six months of 2011. From January to June 2011, the company’s order bookings rose by 19.8 % in comparison to the previous year, from 1,104.9 to 1,323.4 million euros. In the year’s second quarter, the value of orders on hand exceeded the preceding year’s level by around a quarter. Krones’ highest growth rates in terms of order bookings were achieved in Africa/Near East, in Eastern Europe and the CIS nations, and in Central Europe. The company’s highest order bookings in absolute figures during the period under review came once again from China. At the end of June 2011, Krones had an order backlog worth 974.6 million euros (preceding year: 917.2 million euros) on its books. During the first half of 2011, sales rose by 16.8 % in comparison to the preceding year’s figure to reach 1,257.5 million euros: this means that half-year sales exceeded the equivalent figure for the record year of 2008 (1,204.9 million euros). In the year’s second quarter, the company’s growth accelerated: at 650.8 million euros, sales from April to June 2011 were 19.9 % up on the preceding year’s equivalent period. Krones’ profitability showed a substantial improvement in the year’ first half. Earnings before taxes (EBT) rose from 32.0 million euros in the preceding year to 69.2 million euros. The EBT margin, meaning pretax earnings in relation to sales, was thus 5.5 % (preceding year: 3.0 %). After taxes, Krones earned 49.2 million euros (preceding year: 22.1 million euros) in the first two quarters of the ongoing business year. This corresponds to earnings per share of 1.62 euros (preceding year: 0.73 euros).Krones still performing to plan The global economy is on course for growth. Nonetheless, a feeling of uncertainty remains. The global debt problem, above all, is a major hazard for the business cycle. From today’s perspective, however, Krones is confident that the situational conditions will remain favourable overall during the second half of 2011. Krones anticipates that in comparison to 2010 sales will grow by significantly more than 10 %, and appreciably exceed the previous record high of around 2,381 million euros from 2008. For order bookings, too, the company expects a new record high, laying solid foundations for further growth. In addition, the Executive Board is very confident that Krones will significantly improve its earnings, and achieve a pretax return on sales of more than 5 % (preceding year: 3.3 %). From today’s perspective, Krones anticipates that the pretax earnings achieved in January to June will be exceeded in the year’s second half.