By Will Lowry| 2022-08-01 15:58:55

With effect from 1st June 2022 Böllhoff Group has acquired Gillis Aerospace, a French manufacturer of fasteners for the aerospace industry, therefore expanding the product and competence portfolio for customers in the aerospace market segment. Böllhoff Group already acquired 40% of the shares in Gillis Aerospace in January 2020. Gillis Aerospace specialises in the production of special fasteners and bolts, as well as surface finishing. Due to the high-level of automation, Gillis is especially characterised by high product quality and short lead times. Furthermore, Gillis has its own facilities for surface coating and can therefore offer the complete value chain from a single source with its comprehensive coating know-how. In addition to that, surface coating is also offered as a service to the market.  The acquisition of Gillis adds to Böllhoff’s capabilities within the aerospace sector, after it acquired SNEP in June 2021. “With a comprehensive manufacturing portfolio, material expertise in lightweight materials, and development know-how, Böllhoff wants to strengthen its position in the aerospace market as a leading supplier of innovative fastening solutions and support the aerospace industry as a competent partner in achieving weight and CO2 targets,” says Michael W Böllhoff, managing partner of the Böllhoff Group.   

By Will Lowry| 2022-08-01 14:19:10

voestalpine posted record results in the business year 2021/22, despite an extremely challenging environment, with revenue rising 36.9% in a year-over-year comparison, to €14.9 billion. The operating result (EBITDA) also developed positively, doubling year over year to €2.3 billion (2020/21: €1.1 billion).  Herbert Eibensteiner, CEO of voestalpine AG, explains: “voestalpine once again demonstrated its great flexibility and adaptability. By maintaining our clear focus on measures to boost efficiency, we were able to exploit the positive economic environment during the business year as best we could. We succeeded in securing our operations through suitably adjusted measures within a very short time following the outbreak of the war in Ukraine. In the business year 2021/22, demand for the steel and technology Group’s high-quality products developed along extremely robust trajectories in almost all market and product segments. Even the Automotive Components business segment, which was strongly impacted by disruptions to supply chains and related production curtailments, recorded a satisfactory performance. The development of the Railway Systems segment was once again stable. Following the economic recovery, the Aerospace segment, which had been hugely impacted by the pandemic, developed as positively as the energy sector, which was able to profit from the rising oil and natural gas prices. The boom in the Warehouse & Rack Solutions business segment, which is driven especially by the growing trend toward e-commerce, continued unabated in the reporting period.  “We will continue to concentrate on high- tech segments with the most demanding quality standards, and work together with our customers to drive innovation. As before, the stated goal is to continue driving the company’s value-enhancing growth. This is supported by our positive start to the business year 2022/23. We are based on an excellent financial footing and have a good level of orders for our high-quality products in the key segments, at least through to the Northern summer. However, uncertainties arise due to it being almost impossible to forecast economic development in the second half of the calendar year 2022,” reported Eibensteiner.   

By Will Lowry| 2022-07-29 11:03:53

 Würth Group has achieved a new record with an operating result of €1.27 billion in the 2021 fiscal year (2020: €775 million). At €17.1 billion, the worldwide operating family business generated the highest sales volume in corporate history (2020: €14.4 billion). This corresponds to growth of 18.4%. Adjusted for currencies, sales grew by 19%. Robert Friedmann, chairman of the central managing board of the Würth Group, commented: “The Covid-19 pandemic, and the resulting price increases, as well as material shortages on the procurement market, challenged us last year. The distinct increase in sales and operating result furnishes proof that our strategy is worthwhile also in times of crisis. This is the reason why we started 2022 full of optimism. That is, until February when the conflict between Russia and Ukraine escalated. Now, we have to manage this unprecedented situation of uncertainty every single day.” With a sales share of 40.7%, Germany remains the most important individual market for the Würth Group. In the second year of the pandemic, the German companies proved to be battle-tried and generated a sales plus of 14.3%. The Electrical Wholesale Unit (+28.9%) and Würth Elektronik Group (+32.5%) were particularly successful. Division Industry compensated for the decline in sales from 2020 and achieved the highest growth among the Würth Line divisions at 18.4%. Adolf Würth GmbH & Co KG, the largest single company in the Group, increased its sales by 13.4% – the strongest growth in the last ten years. The companies outside Germany also succeeded in achieving a sales increase of 21.4%.                                                                                         News is from fastener+fixing magazine

By Will Lowey| 2022-07-29 10:55:57

   In the first four months of 2022 the Hilti Group achieved a 5.6% sales increase to CHF 2.03 billion (€2.03 billion). In local currencies, growth reached 9% compared to the same period last year.     In the Europe business region, the Hilti Group increased sales in local currencies by 8.8% with a particularly positive development in Northern and Southern Europe. In the Americas, the increase amounted to 10.9%, continuously supported by disproportionate growth in Latin America. Influenced by the Covid-19 restrictions in Asian countries, Asia/Pacific achieved only slight growth (+1.1%). The Eastern Europe / Middle East / Africa region recorded double-digit sales growth (+15.4%) as the effects of the war in Ukraine and the associated sanctions against Russia will only become visible in the business results in the coming months.     The challenging market environment and the announced rise in interest rates increases the likelihood of an economic slowdown in the construction industry. Nevertheless, Hilti Group continues to expect double-digit sales growth in local currencies for the full year, driven primarily by price increases.    Christoph Loos, CEO at Hilti, commented: “The global supply bottlenecks, combined with massive price increases for raw materials and for energy and transportation, have been further exacerbated by the war in Ukraine and the current lockdowns in China. Against this background, our continued growth is encouraging. However, the first four months have shown that 2022 will be much more challenging than last year.”

By fastenereurasia| 2022-04-04 23:00:32

NORMA Group again surpassed the one billion euro sales threshold in 2021 following the pandemic-related business decline in the previous year. According to preliminary, unaudited figures, the company increased consolidated sales by 14.7 percent to EUR 1,091.9 million (2020: EUR 952.2 million). Contributing factors included the sound order volume with standardized joining technology in Europe, strong demand from the Chinese automotive industry and ongoing significant growth in business with water management solutions in America. Organically, sales at Group level showed strong growth of 16.2 percent; negative currency effects, however, lowered sales growth by 1.5 percent. Global supply chain bottlenecks also slowed the recovery of earnings and margin in the fourth quarter.CEO Dr. Michael Schneider: “The global economic recovery has revived demand for our joining solutions. In a difficult environment with new challenges arising from distortions in global supply chains, NORMA Group has once again demonstrated considerable resilience and achieved sound growth. We will continue to consistently focus our business model on three strategic business units with good growth opportunities: Water management, general industry applications, and mobility and new energy.”Noticeable recovery in earnings and marginAt EUR 113.8 million, adjusted earnings before interest and taxes (adjusted EBIT) were well above the previous year’s figure (2020: EUR 45.3 million). The adjusted EBIT margin was 10.4 percent, also significantly exceeding the prior-year figure (2020: 4.8 percent). Among other factors, there was a positive impact from savings achieved as part of the “Get on track” change program.Fourth quarter impacted by supply chain bottlenecksIn the fourth quarter, ongoing bottlenecks in global supply and logistics chains impacted both earnings and margin. For one thing, the shortage of electronic components led automotive customers to call off lower volumes or postpone orders. For another, prices for production materials such as plastics, stainless steel and alloy surcharges as well as for transportation services increased noticeably from mid-2021. According to preliminary figures, sales in the fourth quarter of 2021 decreased slightly by 1.2 percent year-on-year to EUR 258.1 million (Q4 2020: EUR 261.2 million). Organically, sales fell 4.2 percent. Currency effects, especially in connection with the U.S. dollar, had a positive impact of 3.1 percent. Adjusted EBIT decreased in the final quarter of 2021 compared to the fourth quarter of 2020 by 3.4 percent to EUR 17.9 million (Q4 2020: EUR 18.6 million). The adjusted EBIT margin was 6.9 percent (Q4 2020: 7.1 percent).Change program having an impactIn financial year 2021, NORMA Group pressed ahead as planned with the implementation of its “Get on track” change program, which was launched in November 2019. The program includes the optimization of site capacities in all regions, a streamlining of the product portfolio and improvements in purchasing. In 2021, among other things, the company generated savings by more intensively bundling its purchasing activities for production materials for various sites to a greater extent. In addition, the production site in Fresno, California, was integrated into existing plants in Lindsay, also in California, and in Tijuana, Mexico. In Central Europe, a plant in the German city of Gerbershausen will be closed by the end of 2022 and production there is being gradually transferred to existing European plants in Germany, Sweden and the Czech Republic. Overall, “Get on track” delivered savings of EUR 27.4 million in 2021. The costs for the change program, which are not adjusted to ensure transparent presentation, amounted to EUR 1.5 million in 2021. The change program is expected to generate annual savings of around EUR 50 million from 2023 onwards and position NORMA Group more flexibly and profitably in the long term.

By fastenereurasia| 2022-04-04 00:00:00

In a dynamic market environment characterized by high demand, supply chain bottlenecks and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the SFS Group seized opportunities that arose in each of its segments to boost its sales by 11.0% to CHF 1,893.1 million in the year 2021, an outcome based on its ability to fill customer orders. All end markets and regions contributed to this good growth. The result was a high level of production capacity utilization that strengthened profitability and generated an EBIT margin of 15.9%. Net income came to CHF 248.0 million.The COVID-19 pandemic continued to be the defining theme for the SFS Group in 2021 again. The market environment had already begun showing signs of recovery in the third quarter of 2020 and this recovery continued unabated during the first half of 2021. The first half of the year saw growth of 23.8% compared to the same period of the previous year, which was dominated by the lockdown. In the second half of the year, production slowdowns – yet another of the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic – increasingly resulted in global supply chain disruptions as well as shortages of semiconductors and other raw materials, some of which also had an impact on call-offs at SFS. Despite sales declining slightly by 2.3% in the second half the year compared to the first half of 2021, total sales increased substantially by 11.0% to CHF 1,893.1 million in the period under review. Growth was broadly based across all segments and regions and nearly exclusively organic in nature. Consolidation effects contributed +0.8% to growth and currency translation effects had a negative effect of –0.1%. As a result, sales clearly exceeded the 2019 figures and confirm SFS’s good positioning throughout the cycle.Profitability increased through high capacity utilizationStrong yet occasionally volatile market demand resulted in good overall utilization of production capacities. Phases of high utilization as well as targeted, forward-looking cost management resulted in a record-high operating profit (EBIT) of CHF 301.7 million and an EBIT margin of 15.9% of net sales (previous year 13.3%). Net income of CHF 248.0 million corresponds to 13.1% of net sales and the equity ratio amounts to 78.9%.Investments in future growth continuedGrowth-related expenditure on property, plant, equipment, hardware and software amounted to CHF 121.4 million (previous year: CHF 104.1 million). This was driven by the construction of the new production hall in Heerbrugg (Switzerland) for the Automotive division, ongoing efforts to switch to S/4HANA (the new generation ERP system), the strong commitment to cybersecurity and other project-specific investments.Top priority was also given to sustainability-related projects and developments. A milestone was reached with the adoption of a roadmap defining specific, ambitious targets for reducing CO2 emissions. The annual sustainability report contains more detailed information regarding the targets and progress made.Engineered Components segment – high level of capacity utilization and profitabilityPerformance in the Engineered Components segment was characterized by pent-up demand in the automotive and industrial areas as well as persistently strong demand in the Electronics division. Semiconductor shortages put a damper on recovery in the second half of the year and caused sales to decline by 1.8% compared with the first half. Overall, the segment generated sales of CHF 975.2 million, representing growth of 8.6% compared to the previous year. Sales growth was almost exclusively organic in nature, foreign currency and consolidation effects had minor impacts of –0.5% and +1.2%, respectively.Profitability benefited from the generally high level of production capacity utilization that resulted from the good demand situation and the EBIT margin rose by 160 basis points to 17.1%.Fastening Systems segment – record results achievedThe exceptional demand situation that the Fastening Systems segment had already successfully leveraged in the first half of the year to generate record results continued in the second half, albeit at a slightly lower level. The good market position and robust supply chains enabled the segment to reliably serve customers and profit from strong demand. The segment succeeded in boosting its sales in this environment by 17.4% year over year to CHF 574.9 million. Consolidation effects and currency translation effects contributed +0.5% and +0.3%, respectively, to sales growth.The segment took advantage of the strong growth and generated a record EBIT margin of 17.4%, 5.5 percentage points higher than in the prior-year period.Distribution & Logistics segment – good initial situation from first half of year exploitedThanks to stable market demand in all areas of application and good overall availability of materials, sales in the Distribution & Logistics segment were increased to CHF 343.0 million during the period under review, up +8.2% over the previous year. Stable growth of +8.1% and +8.3% in the first and second halves of the year, respectively, was achieved compared to the prior-year period. +0.2% was attributable to foreign currency effects.The strong sales growth resulted in an EBIT of CHF 32.6 million, which corresponds to an EBIT margin of 9.4%.Internationalizing the Distribution & Logistics segment with the inclusion of HoffmannThe planned inclusion of Hoffmann SE lends the D&L segment an internationally strong position in the attractive area of quality tools. Hoffmann is a leading international systems partner for quality tools that is well-known on European markets and serves more than 100,000 customers with a product range comprising around 500,000 items. Customers appreciate not only the company’s comprehensive range of products but also its high level of product and logistics expertise, which will be strengthened even further through the commissioning of the new LogisticCity in Nuremberg (Germany), Europe’s most high-performance logistics center for quality tools.The joining of forces marks a milestone and the companies’ complementary positioning opens up attractive development opportunities. Together they will be able to exploit advantages in the areas of cross selling, digitalization, logistics, software and purchasing. Access to LogisticCity will further strengthen the logistics of the Distribution & Logistics and Fastening Systems segments.The transaction is subject to the usual closing conditions and is expected to be concluded in the first half of 2022.Personnel changes in the Board of Directors and Group Executive BoardAt the Annual General Meeting 2021, the Board of Directors of the SFS Group appointed Manuela Suter, currently CFO of Bucher Industries and a member of its Group Executive Board, to the Board of Directors. Volker Dostmann succeeded Rolf Frei as CFO following the Annual General Meeting 2021.Once the transaction with Hoffmann SE has been concluded, Hoffmann will be embedded into the SFS organization as the second division within the Distribution & Logistics segment. Hoffmann’s current CEO, Martin Reichenecker, will then join the Group Executive Board of SFS.Outlook for the financial year 2022Performance will remain characterized by major uncertainties as a result of smoldering geopolitical developments such as the current war in Ukraine, trade conflicts and sustained disruptions in supply chains. Uncertainties in international supply chains, which should gradually subside as the COVID-19 pandemic abates, are expected to persist until early 2023. In this environment, ensuring the highest possible focus on customers takes top priority. Investments in the selective expansion of our production capacity and thus the implementation of ambitious growth projects will continue.SFS expects product call-offs to be partly subdued in the first half of the 2022 financial year but for these to pick up over the course of the year. Given the solid project pipeline, SFS is confident that the development will be positive in all end markets. Based on that, SFS expects standalone sales growth of 3–6% at an EBIT margin of 13–16%. The outlook will be updated once the transaction with Hoffmann has been closed.

By Xinhuanet| 2022-02-14 21:06:45

China FAW Group Co., Ltd., a leading automobile maker in the country, produced 290,371 complete vehicles and sold 311,508 vehicles in January, the company said Monday.Its leading sedan brand Hongqi produced 37,758 cars, up 60.9 percent year on year, and saw sales up 29.6 percent year on year to 42,158 during the period.The sales of FAW Jiefang, FAW's truck subsidiary, came in at over 28,000, and over 26,000 trucks were produced in January.Last year, FAW Group sold a total of 3.5 million vehicles. The company's operating revenue is expected to reach 770 billion yuan (about 121 billion U.S. dollars) this year, with an annual growth of 8.9 percent.

By Eurasia| 2022-02-10 23:01:45

Kadimi Group is pleased to announce the merger of its 2 manufacturing companies; Kadimi Tool & Kadimi Special Steels. The new merged entity is called Kadimi Tool Manufacturing Company Pvt. Ltd.In 2019 Kadimi had purchased the stakes of its joint venture partners - JFE Steel, Japan  and Nakagawa Special Steel, Japan  in Kadimi Special Steel Pvt. Ltd.In 2020 Kadimi purchased 50 % stake of PCC in the joint venture company Kadimi Tool.This merger will improve operational efficiencies. In addition, it will allow both companies to tap into the sales network of each other. Kadimi is preparing for the next stage of growth.

By Xinhuanet| 2022-01-04 23:02:06

As trade protectionism and anti-globalization have been surging quickly, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), taking effect on January 1, is sending a strong signal to support free trade and uphold the multilateral trading system.The RCEP, signed by 15 Asia-Pacific countries and covering roughly 30 percent of the world's gross domestic product, trade and population, will give a strong boost to international trade and investment and contribute to global economic recovery.According to the agreement, RCEP covers a wide range of areas, including tariff reduction, trade facilitation and opening up of services and investment. Over 90 percent of trade in goods among approved member states will be tariff-free, and all member states will significantly reduce restrictions on economic and trade cooperation, facilitate the flow of goods and factors of production, and improve production efficiency.It will also help strengthen industrial chain coordination and optimize supply chain layout in the Asia-Pacific region, facilitate deeper integration of industrial chains and supply chains among members, and facilitate the free flow of economic factors.The RCEP integrated market will further tap the cooperation potential of member states in various fields, ease the pressure brought by anti-globalization and the impact of COVID-19, release the win-win dividends of market sharing and common prosperity to the world, and inject new vitality into free trade and multilateralism.It is fair to say that the entry into force of RCEP, the world's largest free trade agreement, is bucking the ugly trend of trade protectionism and anti-globalization, and setting up a new norm of free trade and investment facilitation.The COVID-19 pandemic has led to sluggish global economic growth and a severe downturn in international trade. According to the latest World Economic Outlook report released by the International Monetary Fund in October, the global economy is expected to continue to recover in 2021 despite the impact of COVID-19, but the recovery momentum will slow down.With the huge population, diverse membership and great potential, the RCEP will further boost the confidence and resolve of the international community to work together to achieve economic recovery. Enditem

By Xinhuanet| 2021-12-17 22:50:47

German luxury carmaker BMW on Thursday announced its upgraded strategy in the Chinese market, with three new or upgraded plants to open in 2022.At its New Year media conference, BMW Group China said it is determined to continue its close cooperation with China's automobile industry and attaches importance to Chinese market demands in new product development."What moves China today will move the world tomorrow. It is a perfect place and a great partner for the BMW Group to drive transformation," said Nicolas Peter, member of the board of management of BMW AG responsible for finance and China affairs."Next year, three new or upgraded plants will open in Shenyang and Zhangjiagang. We will soon be launching the second BMW battery electric vehicle (BEV) from Shenyang. It is a fully electric 3-series, further enhancing China's position as one of BMW Group's top three new energy vehicle production bases in the world," Peter added.Echoing China's green initiative, the group is also accelerating its BEV product offense in China. In 2021, the sales volume of the all-electric BMW iX3 is expected to reach 20,000 units in its first complete sales year. In 2022, BMW will present five BEVs to Chinese customers, and by the end of 2023, the group will offer about 13 BEVs in the Chinese market.By 2025, a quarter of the BMW Group's sales in China will be BEVs, it added.The group said it has established its largest R&D and digital footprint outside Germany in China, with a team of over 1,650 employees, including around 600 software developers. Enditem