The 2011 financial year was one of the best in DEUTZ AG’s history even though the global economy increasingly deteriorated, particularly in the second half of the year. DEUTZ fully achieved – and in some cases exceeded – the forecast that it had made at the start of 2011 and revised upwards during the course of the year.
Revenue rose by 28.6 per cent to €1,529.0 million (2010: €1,189.1 million), setting a new revenue record for the current corporate structure. It was particularly encouraging that all application segments and regions were able to achieve a significant increase in their revenue last year, thereby continuing the positive trend that had begun in 2010. The basis for this record amount of revenue was the sharp rise in unit sales, which went up by 37.5 per cent to 230,598 engines (2010: 167,680 engines).
Operating profit (EBIT before one-off items) advanced to €91.2 million in 2011, more than double the 2010 figure of €42.2 million. In addition to the sharp rise in revenue, other critical factors behind this encouraging trend included the measures implemented to increase profitability and efficiency. This success was attributable in particular to the sustained reduction in fixed costs brought about by the ’MOVE’ project and the contributions to earnings from the MOVE FAST project. It is also clearly reflected in the EBIT margin: the figure of 3.5 per cent achieved in 2010 rose to an impressive 6.0 per cent in 2011.
Whereas EBIT and the reported EBIT margin had been adjusted for one-off items in 2010, there were no one-off items in the year under review. Based on the excellent operating profit generated in 2011, net income improved by a considerable €91.4 million year on year to €75.5 million and is thus now well into positive figures again (2010: net loss of €15.9 million).
This was one of the best levels of net income achieved by DEUTZ in its history. The reduced net interest expense had a particularly positive impact on net income. Restructuring of the funding caused net interest expense to decline to a loss of €13.4 million, a year-onyear improvement of 49 per cent.
There were plenty of orders on DEUTZ’s books in 2011. The Company’s new orders totalled €1,479.3 million, up by 12.5 per cent on the previous year (2010: €1,315.0 million). This upturn in new orders was attributable, in particular, to the high demand in the Agricultural Machinery and Mobile Machinery application segments. The upward trajectory was maintained over the course of the year. Revenue in the fourth quarter of 2011 was up by 1.5 per cent on the third quarter, which itself had been strong. Year on year, fourth-quarter revenue increased by as much as 10.0 per cent.
DEUTZ anticipates similarly good results for this year. "Although any forecast for 2012 is still subject to uncertainty, we are looking to the future full of confidence in view of the very successful year that we have just enjoyed. Supported by excellent performance in the service business and the increasing proportion of the fleet accounted for by new and significantly more durable engines, we predict that, in 2012, we will reach the revenue and EBIT margin achieved in 2011. We can state with a clear conscience that, whatever happens, we are well equipped to face the future", said Dr Helmut Leube, Chairman of the Board of Management of DEUTZ AG.
