Wintersteiger: 3-division policy helps in difficult financial year 2009
2010 begins with record orders and increasing market shares in all business segments.
The crisis year 2009 did not pass over Wintersteiger AG without leaving its mark. Nevertheless, in spite of falling sales the Upper Austrian specialist machine constructor reports a good result for the last financial year 2009,. With Group sales of 81.1 million Euros, the machine constructor achieved an operating result of 7.2 million Euros, corresponding to an EBIT margin of 8.9%.
With decreased sales in 2009 of 11.4%, the EBIT dropped 21.8% compared to the previous year. However, Wintersteiger is quite satisfied with the result.
Finance Director Roland Greul says: 'During 2009, economic conditions were very difficult worldwide. The respectable Group result is confirmation of our strategic arrangements. We see our three-division policy as a distribution of risk which has granted us a solid and lasting financial base.' The figures bear out the Director's statement: from them it is possible to see that Wintersteiger was nowhere near as dramatically hit by the effects of the crisis as were many other companies in the machine construction industry. The equity capital rate of 52.7% is also an indicator of Wintersteiger AG's solid financial management. Roland Greul, speaking about the global market leader in all three business sectors, says: 'At Wintersteiger we can assume the company is alive and well right to its core. This starts with the equity capital ratio and continues all the way through to our power of innovation."
Sales distribution among the three Divisions
The Sports Division had the biggest share of sales in 2009; they posted 43.5 million Euros with their complete solutions for the rental and servicing of skis and snowboards. The stable result can be attributed to the good winter of 2008/2009 and the strong ski season that went with it. The Seedmech Division was responsible for a significant share of Wintersteiger AG's total sales with sales of 24.6 million Euros. The picture for last year for the Woodtech Division revealed itself to be problematic. Markus Piber says: 'Because of the massive market slump in the timber processing industry, enquiries about process solutions for quality thin-cutting of wood were very cautious. At 12.9 million Euros, Woodtech made a significantly lower contribution to company sales than the year before.'
Export quota and staff situation
Looked at in relative figures, Wintersteiger achieved 86.7% of its total sales 2009 with exports to almost all regions and countries of the world. In absolute figures that amounts to sales of more than 70 million Euros. Wintersteiger currently has more than 15 of its own company sites at which a total of 603 staff are employed. The majority, i.e. 438 staff, are employed in the Group headquarters in Ried im Innkreis. The rest are distributed worldwide in the sales and servicing subsidiaries. The machines for all three sectors are produced exclusively in Ried. In the crisis year, the number of staff internationally was reduced by 5.8%, and this was achieved by natural wastage of jobs which for the time being were not refilled in 2009.
In the meantime, the Seedmech Division's large orders at the beginning of the year referred to here have already led to a definite increase in staff. Apprentice training has not been neglected at Wintersteiger either and another 13 girls and boys will set out on the road to becoming future skilled workers and managers in August 2010. With 47 apprentices, Wintersteiger is one of the biggest training operations in the region.
'Fit for Future' with lean management
Wintersteiger has set itself the target of emerging strengthened from the crisis. 2009 has been devoted to lean management. The programme introduced at Wintersteiger goes under the heading 'Fit for Future'. The company's own structures will become more efficient, it will optimise a large part of its work processes and put a stop to wastefulness. In the fields of production and logistics alone, it has seen a potential to make processes and procedures faster, more efficient and less wasteful of resources. Roland Greul sees 'Fit for Future' as a real success for Wintersteiger: 'In many areas, we have become more efficient, faster and therefore stronger. That improves both our value creation chain and our international competitiveness. Nevertheless, we have not yet achieved our objective and we can see further possibilities for becoming stronger. We intend to approach this potential aggressively in 2010.'
Research and development for even more customer orientation
Despite the crisis, last year Wintersteiger invested 3.9 million Euros in research and development. With a quota of 4.8%, Wintersteiger also produced innovations in all three company divisions in 2009. Walter Aumayr, the director responsible for research and development says: 'It is our objective to bring a product innovation in each division onto the market every year. That is the only way we can stay a step ahead of our competitors and determine the pace.'
The Sports Division impressed the international ski federations both at the XXI Olympic Games in Vancouver and during the World Cup season with the new Race NC, a race service stone grinding machine. Those who invested in the Race NC were rewarded in return with medal wins. Seedmech had international success with the Dynamic Disc, a new precision spaced planter. The Dynamic Disc is to some extent one of the reasons for the Seedmech Division's excellent result. There is a new development at Woodtech as well, this time in thin-cutting frame saws. With the DSG Notum, Wintersteiger is launching yet another high performance machine onto the market for precise, high quality, thin-cutting of wood. This coming May will see the world premier at the Xylexpo Trade Fair in Milan. 'We are very close to our customers and know precisely what they need and what they will find helpful. This knowledge flows continuously into our development work and thence into product innovation,' explains Walter Aumayr.
Market share and outlook 2010
Wintersteiger has achieved its target objectives of consolidating its market share in all three divisions of the company. At the same time, it has started 2010 with some new large orders. The current order book ensures production will be working at full capacity until the end of June this year. Overall, Wintersteiger is well equipped for 2010. It recently laid the foundations for being 'Fit for Future' and for playing an even stronger role than before as a determining factor in the global market. Director Markus Piber is looking forward to the future with excitement: 'Wintersteiger has made itself fit for the future in times of crisis. We are two steps ahead of the competition if there is an upswing and will most certainly grab a greater share of the market worldwide.'
from left to right.: Ing. Walter Aumayr, Ing. Markus Piber, Roland Greul MBA
