AGM Decisions and Q1 Sales
Annual General Meeting approves all motions
• Distribution of CHF 15.00 per bearer share for FY 2010 out of reserves from capital contributions
• Re-election of Dr Paul Hälg, Dr Robert Heberlein and Nick Huber as members of the Board of Directors
Q1 2011 sales up 26.3% over weak Q1 2010 at constant year-to-date translation rates
• Recovery of Wind Energy target market sales over weak Q1, 2010
• Tooling business Q1 2011 sales hit by low Chinese order intake in Q4 2010
Zürich and Pfäffikon/SZ, April 29, 2011. The shareholders of Gurit Holding AG (SIX Swiss Exchange: GUR), have approved all motions at today’s Annual Gen-eral Meeting: For the financial year 2010, Gurit will pay 15 CHF per bearer share out of reserves from capital contributions (prior year: gross dividend CHF 15). The Gurit bearer shares will be traded ex dividend/ex distribution as from May 3, 2011 (Ex Date); positions entitled to dividends are determined on May 5, 2011 (Record Date) and payment date is Friday May 6, 2011. The AGM also re-elected Dr Paul Hälg, Dr Robert Heberlein and Nick Huber as members of the Board of Directors for a further three-year term of office until 2014.
Strong recovery in first quarter 2011 over weak prior-year period
Gurit reports Group sales of CHF 79.1 million for the first quarter 2011. This rep-resents an increase of 26.3% at constant year-to-date translation rates over the soft first quarter of last year. Compared with the preceding fourth quarter of 2010, net sales have increased by 5.4%, indicating an ongoing and gradual market re-covery.
The upturn is most visible in Wind Energy, Gurit’s largest target market, where sales at constant rates increased by 62.4% to CHF 44.0 million. In Q1 2010, Wind Energy sales had been affected by blade de-stocking efforts of the key cus-tomers in Europe. In Q1 2011, sales to one major plant of a European key cus-tomer were again stopped for almost two months due to lack of demand. The Chinese, Asian and meanwhile also the American markets develop positively mainly based on the now completed core material offering. While Tooling had reported extremely strong sales for Q1 2010, this business now reports sales of CHF 7.0 million which – at constant rates – is 33.1% less than in the first three months of 2010 due to the weak order intake in Q4 2010, mainly in China. For the next six months, Tooling will operate at capacity limits given the good order in-take from both Chinese and international customers. Transportation reports at constant rates 11.4% higher sales of CHF 14.5 million, reflecting a strong de-mand from rail customers and a higher airplane build rate. The Marine market achieved sales of CHF 13.0 million. This organic increase of 8.4% at constant rates shows a slow recovery of the global boat-building markets. Sales achieved in other markets mainly reflect material shipments and engineering services e.g. for ocean energy and certain civil engineering applications.
Gurit will publish the results for the first half-year on September 9, 2011.
For general information on Gurit: Bernhard Schweizer, Group Communications/Investor Relations, Tel. +41 44 316 1555; Mobile: +41 79 373 2178 bernhard.schweizer@gurit.com
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On Gurit: The companies of Gurit Holding AG, Wattwil/Switzerland, (SIX Swiss Ex-change: GUR) are specialised on the development and manufacture of advanced com-posite materials and related technologies featuring bespoke physical and chemical char-acteristics. The comprehensive product range comprises fibre reinforced prepregs, struc-tural core materials, gel coats, adhesives, resins and consumables as well as certain finished parts. Gurit supplies growth markets in Wind Energy, Tooling, Transportation and Marine. The international Group has production sites and offices in Switzerland, Ger-many, the UK, Canada, Spain, Australia, New Zealand, the USA, Ecuador, India and China.