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| Zumtobel reports 13.6% decline in Q3 (May – January) revenue Austrian lighting company Zumtobel Group said its revenues fell 13.6% to EUR 259.3 million in the third quarter of the current financial year (prior year: EUR 300.0 million). The Zumtobel Group recorded revenues of EUR 900.5 million in the first nine months (May to January) which represents a decrease of 6.8% (PY: EUR 966.1 million). More than half of this decline (EUR 35.4 million) was caused by negative foreign exchange effects, above all from the weak British Pound. After adjustment for these effects, revenues for the first nine months were 3.1% less than in the comparable prior year period. Adjusted earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) reached EUR 62.6 million for the first three quarters. This equates to a drop of 35.7% over the comparable prior year period, when the Zumtobel Group posted record earnings of EUR 97.2 million. In the third quarter the size of the global workforce at the Zumtobel Group fell from 7,921 to 7,575 employees (full-time equivalent including contract workers but not including apprentices). This reduction was largely due to natural fluctuation, employees taking earlier retirement, individual agreements and a cut-back of roughly 70 contract workers. A breakdown by segment reveals that both the Lighting Segment (Zumtobel / Thorn) and the Components Segment (TridonicAtco) were affected by the negative impact of the economic crisis in the reporting period. In the Lighting Segment there was an increased number of postponed or cancelled projects. In the Components Segment customers reacted by placing smaller orders and reducing their inventories. A breakdown by region shows that all the Zumtobel Group's key markets are now in recession. With the exception of Asia (+4.3% after nine months) revenues were down in all markets. The regions hardest hit were Southern Europe (-15.5%), Western Europe (-11.4%), Australia & New Zealand (-12.8%) and America (-11.1%). The Zumtobel Group expects the operating environment will remain extremely difficult during the 2009 calendar year. The programme initiated during the past quarter to reduce structural costs should lead to savings of roughly EUR 25 million in 2009/10. write your comments about the article :: © 2009 Construction News :: home page |