TÜV SÜD on growth course:
significant rise in revenue and earnings
2010 balance sheet: EUR 1.55 billion in revenue and earnings before
taxes of EUR 123 million
Around EUR 133 million in investments & acquisitions / 1,600 new
employees
Clear objective: market leader in electromobility / energy transition
providing significant impetus for business.
Munich. TÜV SÜD significantly stepped up
its pace of growth in 2010. In the past year, the international service
corporation increased its revenue by 10.1 per cent to over EUR 1.55 billion
(2009: EUR 1.41 billion), while earnings before taxes even show a year-on-year
increase of
21 per cent to EUR 123 million (2009: EUR 102 million).
The TÜV SÜD headcount rose by 1,600 to over 16,000
employees. The company reported
growth throughout all divisions and regions and also got off to an excellent
start in the current fiscal 2011. Chairman of the Board Dr Axel Stepken
thus summarized the group's favourable situation at today's annual balance
sheet press conference, held at the corporate headquarters in Munich. Stepken
emphasized, "We expect further dynamic growth in 2011, driven by factors
including numerous international acquisitions." TÜV SÜD also expects strong
impetus from innovative growth areas such as energy from renewable sources and
electromobility.
TÜV SÜD's excellent business development in 2010 enabled the company to
invest extensively in its future: last year, the company spent around EUR 133
million on expanding its business (EUR 52.2 million) and on acquisitions (EUR
80.5 million). In addition to building up several new legal entities in various
countries in 2010, TÜV SÜD acquired eight large-scale companies, almost all of
them located overseas; the two largest acquisitions, for example, are
headquartered in the USA and South Korea. The change in the breakdown of
revenue also reflects the company's successful international strategy: in 2010,
TÜV SÜD generated 33 per cent of its revenue abroad – a year-on-year increase
of
3 percentage points. Dr Peter Klein, Chief Financial Officer of TÜV SÜD AG,
explained, "Revenue growth was strongest in the AMERICAS region at around
40 per cent and in the ASIA-PACIFIC region at almost 30 per cent. However, even
on our fiercely competitive domestic market here in Germany, we succeeded in
achieving growth of 3.5 per cent in 2010." The company's objective is to
raise its revenue generated abroad to 40 per cent in the medium term.
Safe electromobility: TÜV SÜD aims to become
the market leader
The company is also continuing at full power along the
road of electromobility. Horst Schneider, Member of the Board of Management of
TÜV SÜD AG, believes the group is well on the way to its goal of becoming the
world's number one provider of battery testing and certification services for
electric vehicles. To this end, TÜV SÜD is currently further expanding its
global network of testing facilities by adding new laboratories in North
America, Singapore and Germany. According to Schneider, the acquisition of
Innovative Testing Solutions in Canada early this year was a significant step
towards consolidating this leading position.
Construction of the new battery testing laboratory in
Garching near Munich is on schedule: "We anticipate that we can start to
test individual components in the new laboratory this summer", said
Schneider. In Germany, TÜV SÜD is already conducting battery tests jointly with
partner companies until the laboratory in Garching, in which the company invested
several million euros, is ready to be taken into service.
Strategic expansion of the automobile
business
With respect to the automotive business,
one of TÜV SÜD's core areas, Horst Schneider announced that the company plans
to significantly expand and strengthen further automotive services in addition
to its "classic pillars" of roadworthiness testing and driving tests.
Here, the company is basing its strategy on the areas of fleet management, used-car strategy, vehicle reconditioning and
registration services. In this context, Schneider announced that the TÜV SÜD
subsidiary FleetCompany has embarked on a strategic partnership with
Belgium-based Fleet Logistics and that these two companies in combination will
strive to become the European market leader in unbundled fleet management
services.
Schneider also provided information about the
establishment of a joint venture with car rental company Sixt, to be called TÜV
SÜD Car Registration und Services GmbH (CRS). The core service of the new
company will be efficient and cost-effective vehicle registration on behalf of
large vehicle fleets and private customers. An important aspect of this service
is the execution of the registration process, making personal appearance at the
registration authority a thing of the past.
Energy transition provides significant impetus for
business
In the area of future energy supply, too, important decisions which will
determine the course of future development are currently being made. "In
the wake of Fukushima, the theme of energy transition is dominating public
discussions", said Stepken. The primary goal of energy transition, he
warned, must be to ensure safe, reliable and, not least, also affordable energy
supply. To reach this goal, renewables and their associated infrastructure need
to be expanded rapidly, the use of fossil resources in coal- and natural
gas-fired power stations optimized further, safe and reliable operation of
existing power stations ensured and the efficiency of energy input
significantly improved. "At TÜV SÜD, we provide services in all of the
above areas", explained the Chairman of the Board of Management. "By
providing our expertise and experience, we make a major contribution to
ensuring the safety and reliability of all types of energy production and
transfer." Given this, he described the energy transition as a major
opportunity for the further successful development of TÜV SÜD.
Consistent expansion of renewables
TÜV SÜD sees major growth opportunities in the field of renewables,
particularly in the field of wind power. "We will continuously further
expand our capacities and expertise in this area", declared Stepken. In
Hamburg, the new offshore wind-power department was established in January
2011. As early as April, the offshore experts reported that they had won their
first major contract: on behalf of Strabag Offshore Wind GmbH, the team will
carry out certification of the planned Albatros 1 offshore project in the North
Sea, scheduled to operate twelve wind turbines.
In March 2011, TÜV SÜD presented the wind atlas for Baden-Wuerttemberg,
which it had drawn up on behalf of Baden Wuerttemberg's State Ministry of the
Economy. "The wind atlas provides an excellent dataset for the harnessing
of wind power in this federal state", noted Stepken. This is important for
raising the public acceptance of further wind farms. The use of wind energy is
also attracting increasing attention in other German states: TÜV SÜD already
has enquiries for similar projects from other German federal states.
Investments in the future: denser global laboratory
network across the world
In addition to further expanding its network of testing laboratories for
electric vehicle batteries, TÜV SÜD is also strengthening its global network of
laboratories and partner laboratories in other areas. Over the last three
years, for example, TÜV SÜD invested a total of EUR 10 million in establishing
and expanding its softlines testing facilities for textiles, clothing and shoes
across the world. In 2010 alone, two new testing laboratories were opened in
Vietnam and Bangladesh. Today, the Group employs 300-plus staff in 18 testing
laboratories in this area, 14 of which are located in the Asia-Pacific region
alone. "The further expansion of our global testing infrastructure is a
key element of our corporate strategy", underlined Stepken. "In this
context, we focus on industries with sustainable growth forecasts."
Stepken: "Pace of growth will
increase further"
TÜV SÜD plans to grow further across all divisions and
regions this year.
"In 2011, TÜV SÜD will again step up its pace of growth, and will do so
thanks to our targeted commitment to future-oriented areas of operation, our
defence of our strong market position, our successful international expansion
and, last but not least, our acquisitions in key markets", said Chairman
of the Board of Management Dr Axel Stepken, announcing that TÜV SÜD will
continue its upward momentum over the coming years, creating a large number of
jobs. The company also continues its aim of raising revenue to EUR 2.4 billion
by 2014.
Detailed information and photos are available at www.tuev-sued.de/balancesheetpressconference
Media Relations:
i TÜV SÜD is a
leading international service organization catering to the strategic business
segments INDUSTRY, MOBILITY and CERTIFICATION. Over 16,000 employees are
represented at more than 600 locations throughout the world. Optimizing
technology, systems and know-how, the interdisciplinary specialist teams act as
process partners to strengthen their customers' competitiveness.