Machine tool manufacturer issues financial statement for 2016/17 fiscal year: Sales rise by almost 11 percent to 3.1 billion euros / investments increase by 45 percent
The TRUMPF Group was able to significantly increase profits in the 2016/17 fiscal year that ended June 30, 2017. Income before taxes rose by 11.3 percent to 337.2 million euros (previous year: 303.1 million euros). Net operating margin amounted to 10.8 percent, as one year earlier.
TRUMPF also recorded robust growth in sales and orders received. Sales rose by 10.8 percent to 3.1 billion euros (previous year: 2.8 billion euros) – marking the first time in company history that sales exceeded 3 billion euros. Orders received increased 21.0 percent to 3.4 billion euros – from 2.8 billion euros in 2015/16.
Once again, Germany was the largest single market, with sales of 622 million euros, followed by the United States (421 million euros) in second place and China (404 million euros) in third. Business boomed in South Korea, where sales rose by 58 percent to 211 million euros. This made the country TRUMPF’s fourth-largest market worldwide this past fiscal year. Markets in Western Europe also performed well. Especially impressive: year-on-year sales grew by 28 percent in Italy and a whopping 55 percent in the Netherlands.
The Group-wide workforce grew to 11,883 employees in 2016/17. 6,023 of them were employed in Germany, which equates to a 7-percent year-on-year increase in the company’s workforce in Germany. TRUMPF employs 3,457 people at headquarters in Ditzingen/Gerlingen. There were 427 apprentices at TRUMPF as of June 30, 2017 – 297 of them in Germany. TRUMPF now employs more than 12,000 people. Expenditures on research and development rose by 7.5 percent year on year to 318.3 million euros in the 2016/17 fiscal year. The company’s R&D ratio in relation to sales amounted to 10.2 percent.
TRUMPF attributes the Group’s upturn in sales to the strong global economy. TRUMPF CEO Nicola Leibinger-Kammüller has stated that political developments worldwide have had little impact so far on business in Europe, Asia and the Americas. “The prevailing strength of the global economy has been outweighing potential impediments to investing: pledges of protectionist measures, the Chinese government’s approaches to disseminating information, and the UK’s exit negotiations with the European Union. All the same, we do forecast clouds over the investment landscape in the medium term.”
Dr. Leibinger-Kammüller added that TRUMPF had used the past fiscal year to press ahead with its digital business pursuits and the architectural expansion of some company sites. Investments thus rose by 45.6 percent year on year to 200.4 million euros; half of this sum was used to construct buildings. In addition to the completion of a production facility in Neukirch, Germany, the company invested some 40 million euros to build its new logistics center at headquarters in Ditzingen. This facility will be unveiled to the public at an evening ceremony on October 19, 2017 – attended by Nicole Hoffmeister-Kraut (CDU), who is Minister of Economic Affairs in the German state of Baden-Württemberg.
As reported in September, TRUMPF opened an Industry 4.0 demonstration factory in Chicago. The investment sum there amounted to 26 million euros for structures and equipment. Speaking of the United States, the latest annual report features a legend in American sports: baseball player Sandy Koufax. In four games in his career, this pitcher allowed zero hits by the opposing team – a 4.0 feat, so to speak.
Despite some turbulent geopolitical circumstances, TRUMPF expects orders received and sales to rise in this fiscal year as well. “The first quarter certainly has gotten off to a promising start,” Leibinger-Kammüller said. “We’re therefore optimistic that we can once again reach a higher single-digit percentage increase in sales this fiscal year.