KSB Group: Earnings expected to grow again in 2017

The pump and valve manufacturer KSB has started the 2017 financial year with a sizable increase in orders received. Order intake in the first two months rose by 23.9 % over the previous year, to € 389.5 million. Group sales revenue grew by 5.5 % to € 324.2 million in the same period.

As Members of the Board of Management Werner Stegmüller and Dr. Peter Buthmann outlined at the financial press conference, the company anticipates a significant rise in order intake for 2017. In 2016 the figure was € 2,156.6 million. Sales revenue, which amounted to € 2,165.7 million last year, is expected to remain more or less stable year on year. The earnings before income taxes (EBT) will, however, improve substantially compared with the previous year's figure of € 74.6 million, according to the KSB Board of Management.

This improvement in earnings is planned to be supported by the positive effects from the efficiency enhancement programme, which aims at reducing the material, staff and overhead costs by € 200 million by 2018. In the current year, however, there will still be a considerable amount of one-off costs incurred as a result of this programme.

Besides the changes in personnel - Werner Stegmüller will be leaving the Board of Management in May and will be succeeded by Dr Matthias Schmitz - a change in the legal form of the company is also planned for 2017. KSB Aktiengesellschaft is intended to be converted into a partnership limited by shares [Kommanditgesellschaft]. A motion to this effect will be submitted to the Annual General Meeting for resolution on 10 May. The Meeting will be presided over by the new Chairman of the Supervisory Board, Dr. Bernd Flohr, who was appointed to this position on 22 March 2017.

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Online Annual Report (german version)