The Trumpf Group has announced that it has closed out the past fiscal year with a profit, despite the massive collapse in the world economy. The result was announced by Nicola Leibinger-Kammüller, the group's presedent, during the company's annual press conference held at its Ditzingen headquarters. During the 2008/2009 fiscal year, the company posted an income before taxes of €52.2m, although sales declined by 22 per cent to €1.66bn.
Trumpf states that it confronted these tough economic conditions early on and with massive efforts. First and foremost, the company initiated a comprehensive innovation campaign in all business fields. The company reduced its costs worldwide and adjusted work capacities in production and administration to the drop in demand, mainly by depleting overtime hours in flexitime accounts and introducing short-term work. This allowed the number of employees to remain almost constant both in Germany and abroad. At the end of the fiscal year, the Group had a workforce of 7,955 employees.
The new fiscal year has been deemed a transition year. 'We are positioning Trumpf as best as we can for the period after the crisis,' said Leibinger-Kammüller, describing the company's current goal. Therefore, the company intends to continue investing, budgeting €80m for new machines, plants and buildings. In the last fiscal year, fixed asset investments totaled €126m, half of which was was spent in Germany. Expenditures for research and development is also expected to remain high. Last year, Trumpf allocated 9.3 per cent of its sales (€155m) to R&D. In the next few weeks, Trumpf will introduce innovations for production at various trade shows.
