In the financial year for 2015, MANN +HUMMEL increased sales by roughly 9% to 3.04 billion euros (2014: 2.8 billion euros). Currency effects had a positive effect on this increase in sales. The result (EBIT) at 135 million euros lies below the previous year (2014: 150 million euros). The filtration specialist explains that two special effects, the restructuring of its German plants and the acquisition of the filtration business of the Affinia Group, served to considerably impair earnings.
In 2015 MANN+HUMMEL changed its financial reporting system over to the international IFRS standard and therefore has only now presented its balance sheet. The strong increase in sales of 9.4% is the consequence of positive currency effects. After adjusting for currency effects the increase is 3.9%. Given the economic environment in 2015 better results had been expected. According to the figures of the EU commission, this is the lowest growth in the global economy since the crisis year of 2009.
“In the financial year for 2015 we achieved sales of over 3 billion euros for the first time in the company’s history”, explains CEO, Alfred Weber. “I would like to warmly thank all of our 16,000 employees for their strong commitment.” The company CEO, however, was less satisfied with the level of earnings. “This level of earnings is unsatisfactory”, indicates Weber.
The acquisition of the filtration business of the Affinia Group and the restructuring of the production plants in Germany had a negative impact on the result. Weber views these as important decisions towards greater competitiveness and higher growth.
The Affinia Group with its WIX Filters and FILTRON brands has a good position in certain regions and market segments where MANN+HUMMEL has up to now only had a low penetration. These market segments are, for example, the areas of heavy duty applications in the USA and hydraulic filtration. The takeover improves the global presence of the company, in North America as well as in central and eastern Europe. The extended product range will also help the company to better serve the requirements of customers. The acquisition offers considerable added value to customers and will be a “real growth accelerator” for MANN+HUMMEL.
“That fits in perfectly with our group strategy”, Weber is pleased to note concerning the successful transaction. The takeover in May 2016 enables MANN+HUMMEL to develop virtually into a new company. As a result sales are set to rise by almost a third to 4 billion euros. In future there will now be 20,000 employees at over 70 production locations with a total of 150 years of experience in filtration to continue the success story of the Ludwigsburg company.
In recent years MANN+HUMMEL has further combined its strengths in the respective business divisions and also systematically oriented the production plants in Germany to the company’s core strengths in order to improve competitiveness. Weber regrets that this will involve production job losses in Germany: “We have unfortunately been unable to avoid some compulsory redundancies. Each redundancy is one too many and is painful for us.” In the last two weeks roughly 120 redundancies were announced at the Ludwigsburg plant.
Weber expressly thanked the works council and the participating union representatives for their constructive co-operation. All parties assumed their respective responsibility and acted on the seriousness of the situation. After almost three years of consultation we have arrived at a “sensible agreement to secure the sustainable economic viability of the German production location”.
In the year of the 75th anniversary of the founding of the company MANN+HUMMEL inaugurated its new technology centre at the company headquarters in Ludwigsburg. The centre provides 430 workplaces with modern equipment and a company museum and the adjacent test centre has space for about 100 test benches. In the facilities, filter systems undergo the most stringent tests to ensure their reliability and durability for the respective customer application. The technology centre was built according to the planned budget and time schedule. MANN+HUMMEL has invested more than 30 million euros in the centre.
In spite of a “mixed result in 2015” MANN+HUMMEL has further consolidated its position as a leading filtration expert in the international automotive industry and mechanical engineering industry. On the question of the prospects for the current financial year in 2016, the response of the chief financial officer, Mrs. Emese Weissenbacher, was cautious: “Now we need some time for a breather.” Without taking the Affinia acquisition into account, for the current financial year of 2016 she expects sales to reach the level of the previous year. On the basis of the information currently available the operating result will only improve slightly compared to 2015.
