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Member News
to reach their prior-year levels in 2018.
Largest share of sales in Europe
At € 528 (prior year: € 524) million, Europe accounted for the largest share of consolidated sales totaling just over € 1.23 billion in scal year 2017. Sales in China rose to € 310 (€ 290) million. Schuler’s business in North America made strong pro- gress with increased sales of € 328 (€ 271) million. There was a slight decline in Group headcount to 6,570 (6,617) as of December 31, 2017, of which 2,333 (2,284) people are employed outside Germany.
In its rst full year of implemen- tation, the new manufacturing concept for the Group’s German facilities already led to savings and ef ciency gains of around € 30 million in 2017. These savings were achieved despite the pos- itive sales trend and were well above target.
“Growth from new markets and innovative products”
At over € 106 (€ 95) million, Schuler’s earnings before taxes (EBT) were well above the pri- or-year gure once again in 2017. One driver of this operating result, with a contribution of around € 18 million, was the Group’s tech- nology and demonstration center in Tianjin, China, which was sold to an industrial partner in 2017 following a successful operational phase. Yadon and AWEBA also made positive contributions to sales and earnings.
CEO Klebert: “Yadon clearly demonstrates that growth is pri- marily generated via new markets and innovative products. Yadon presses form the basis for suc- cessful new product offerings
in the USA and, in the future, also in India, Vietnam, Sri Lanka and selected European growth markets. At the same time, Yadon’s link-drive press launched in 2017 is its rst product to offer higher press forces of up to 2,500 metric tons – a joint development project of our teams in China, Brazil and Germany.”
Digitization and new Industry 4.0 solutions
Following the roll-out of its MSP2-400 press line, Schuler has been working hard on the development of new products for the medium price-performance segment. Schuler has launched a large number of internal projects for the further digitization of its products and company processes. At its facility in Gemmingen, for example, the company is setting up a center of expertise for the digital monitoring of part posi- tion and temperature, as well as data analysis for the optimizing of processes. At the new Schuler Innovation Tower in Göppingen, training rooms are being equipped where Schuler and its custom- ers can prepare for the challenge of increasingly networked press lines. Schuler will be showcasing speci c Industry 4.0 applications in its own Smart Press Shop at the leading industry trade show “Euroblech” in Hanover, Germany, in October 2018.
Further improvement in equity base
Against the backdrop of its pos- itive earnings trend in 2017, Schuler – in which the Austrian ANDRITZ Group holds 95 percent of capital stock – was able to make further improvements to its capital base. Shareholders’ equity rose to € 498.4 (€ 438.4) million. As a result, the equity
ratio reached 39.0 (32.2) percent – its highest level since the com- pany’s IPO in 1999. CFO Norbert Broger stated: “Schuler boasts an extremely healthy capital and liquidity base that provides scope for growth-enhancing investment while giving us the capability to cushion cyclical dips – although none are currently in view.”
Capital expenditures decreased as planned to € 26.9 (€45.8) million in 2017, but continued to exceed depreciation. The construction of a new technology center in Göp- pingen – the Schuler Innovation Tower of cially opened a few months ago – had led to record capital expenditures in 2016. At € 125.4 (€ 116.3) million, Schul- er’s net liquidity (liquid funds less nancial debt) was well above the prior-year gure.
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