HELM GROUP 2007
OUTLOOK 2008
PRESS RELEASE 23. May 2008
In its 2007 annual financial statements, the HELM Group managed to achieve a new record in its 107-year history, both in sales revenues and earnings.
The already very good results of the previous five years were exceeded by far. A multi-year comparison reflects a dynamic trend, facilitated among other things by the family shareholders’ policy of consistently allocating unretained income to reserves, making it possible for the company’s equity capital of EUR 84 million to be boosted in five years to an impressive EUR 241 million. As a result, the Group remains on a highly sound footing.
| - Figures in EUR million - | 2007 | 2006 | Change in % |
| SALES REVENUES | |||
| - Global sales revenues | 7,751 | 5,811 | + 33 |
| - External sales revenues | 4,094 | 3,157 | + 30 |
| EARNINGS | |||
| - EBITDA | 118 | 68 | + 74 |
- Earnings before taxes |
94 | 47 | + 100 |
| - Consolidated after-tax earnings | 66 | 31 | + 113 |
Business trends in fiscal 2007 were exceptional. Practically everything performed well. All corporate units, all business divisions, and practically all subsidiaries and participations made a positive contribution to the increases in sales revenues, volumes and, ultimately, earnings.
Liquid Chemicals and Fertilizer did exceptionally well.
The capital structure as a family company, consisting of the shareholders Hermann Schnabel and Dieter Schnabel, is unchanged and is also to be maintained in future.
The current distribution network of subsidiaries and holdings in 32 countries will be extended in regional terms by opening sales offices at new locations in 2008, namely in
- Oslo / Norway
- Glasgow / United Kingdom
The global workforce of the HELM Group currently totals 1,285 employees (previous year: 1,214).
Realising the increasing importance of biotechnologically produced pharmaceuticals, in 2007 HELM AG and the Hungarian pharmaceuticals group Gedeon Richter AG jointly took over a production and development company engaged in this field, namely today’s Richter-Helm BioLogics GmbH & Co. KG, previously part of the Strathmann Group.
Some 90 employees at three locations (in Kiel, Hamburg and Hanover) have already been successfully engaged for years as contract manufacturers for European and U.S. pharmaceuticals customers. Development of the Group’s own bio-generic pharmaceuticals is now under way. Substantial contributions to earnings are expected in 7-10 years.
From joint production ventures and long-term marketing agreements with organisations in Oman, Saudi-Arabia and Egypt, additional volumes and products will be available to HELM in 2008:
- 1 million metric tonnes p.a. of methanol from Oman
- 60,000 metric tonnes p.a. of LAB from Egypt
Further joint production facilities are under construction; their volumes and products will be available for marketing from the 2nd half of 2009.
- 150,000 metric tonnes p.a. of acetic acid from Saudi-Arabia
- 180,000 metric tonnes p.a. of vinyl acetate monomer from Saudi-Arabia
- 50,000 metric tonnes p.a. of dimethylformamide from Saudi-Arabia
- 1.4 million metric tonnes p.a. of urea ammonium nitrate solution from Trinidad & Tobago
- 60,000 metric tonnes p.a. of melamine from Trinidad & Tobago
For the following five years, total investments of EUR 265 million are planned with a view to securing the market position of the HELM GROUP on a sustained basis with regard to key products.
Contrary to the publication by the German Chemical Industry Association (Verband der Chemischen Industrie – VCI), in terms of which the dynamic impetus of the past four years is unlikely to continue in 2008 despite a still respectable level of growth of chemical production in Germany, sales expectations of the HELM Group, at +14% on a half-year basis, i.e. EUR 4.3 billion (previous year: EUR 3.7 billion) is extremely optimistic. The Group’s profit for the year should even rise slightly more, since the increases in the Fertilizer and Crop Protection business units have partly been quite spectacular.
We are also confident with regard to the trend in subsequent months, even though the base chemicals sector is showing signs of generally weaker economic activity, particularly in the field of liquefied products.
Considering the development of HELM from the year 2000 to today, there has been a continual rise in sales revenues, earnings, and equity. There have been no leaps and bounds, but a steady upward trend, even if the individual annual stages have increased.
Specifically, the following seven points are contributory factors to this positive development and guarantee a solid future:
- The transformation of HELM from a traditional merchant house to a marketing company
- The objective of being top of the class in products, markets, and also in the quality of our workforce
- The product is the centre of attraction, not the service of providing a “full basket”
- Six different business units
- Sources of supply and marketing function secured by minority holdings in production sites
- Financial independence thanks to a high level of equity
- An AG (public limited company) as the basis of an independent, solid and autonomous family company
The HELM GROUP has ventured into a new dimension of chemicals trading. In focusing on the points indicated above, the foundations have been laid to enable us to survive even in difficult conditions. They provide us with a relative sense of security.
The start to 2008 was exceptional.23 May 2008 H E L M A G