KSB AG : Report on Financial Year 2011

KSB Group enjoys significant sales revenue growth

Economic environment

During the course of 2011, global growth slowed down considerably. The worsening debt crisis in Europe, the dramatic events in Japan - with their consequences for energy policy - and the political changes in North Africa all had a negative impact on the willingness of many customers to invest in the construction of major new facilities such as power generation plants. Project business with pumps and valves therefore remained difficult. Our general business with standard products, mainly for industry, offered comparatively good opportunities.

Key Group figures as per 31 December 2011 (Provisional figures)

KSB Group	01-12/2011	01-12/2010	Change
Order intake	€ million	2,132.3	2,075.0	+ 2.8 %
Sales revenue	€ million	2,079.1	1,939.3	+ 7.2 %
Employees (31 Dec.)		15,666	14,697	+ 6.6 %

Improved order situation for valves and services

Due to the difficult market conditions, the Group's consolidated order intake increased only moderately by 2.8 percent to € 2,132.3 million. Service orders increased strongly, while order intake for valves also showed good growth. Orders received for pumps remained slightly below last year's level following the spin-off of a Chinese business segment into a joint venture outside the Group during the course of the year.

Companies in the Americas in particular increased their order volumes considerably in 2011. Outstanding growth was achieved by US subsidiary GIW Industries, Inc., which with its range of slurry pumps benefited from the good order situation in mining.

KSB AG improved its order intake by 4.5 percent to € 819.0 million, a value higher than the average for the European companies. In several companies in Southern Europe, order intake remained lower than last year.

Consolidated sales revenue tops two billion euros for the first time

KSB's sales revenue increased in the three segments - pumps, valves and service - as well as in all four sales regions. Consolidated sales revenue rose by 7.2 percent to € 2,079.1 million, exceeding two billion euros for the first time. The companies in the Region Asia/Pacific achieved significant double-digit growth.

In the domestic European market,  which also remains KSB's main market, companies only managed to improve their performance slightly overall. KSB AG recorded an above-average sales revenue increase of 4.2 percent to € 811.3 million. Some subsidiaries in Central, Northern and Eastern Europe also enjoyed double-digit growth rates, while the sales revenues generated by the Southern European companies were largely down on the previous year.

In 2011, ten companies consolidated for the first time also contributed to the positive Group performance. These achieved a total order intake of € 66.3 million and sales revenue of € 63.7 million.

High pressure on prices weighs down on consolidated earnings

Due to the difficult environment, earnings development in project business was impacted by severe price erosion and correspondingly lower margins; rising material and staff costs also weighed down on earnings. Earnings before income taxes for the 2011 financial year are therefore expected, as reported, to be lower than in the previous year (€ 135.8 million).

First-time consolidations increase number of employees in the Group

The number of employees in the Group as at 31 December 2011 rose by 6.6 percent year on year to 15,666. The newly consolidated companies, accounting for 527 employees at year end, contributed significantly to this growth. KSB AG, too, increased the number of employees by 91 to 4,329, partly in order to be able to implement initiated and planned strategic projects.

Outlook

For the current year, KSB expects the market for pumps, valves and services to grow moderately overall, with regional variations. Provided there is no significant economic slowdown or fully-fledged recession, both order intake and sales revenue should increase in 2012. Group sales revenue is expected to increase more strongly than order intake. Based on this trend, earnings before income taxes will also improve according to current estimates.

Once again in 2012, funds have been budgeted and capacity planned for the continuation of the strategic projects. KSB currently plans to finance these investments entirely from its own resources.