Jump in sales to € 1.685 billion.

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• 11th November 2007
• Materials Handling
 

Horstmar - Schmitz Cargobull AG has once again increased the rate of growth from the previous year in the just completed financial year of 2006/2007. "We've jumped almost an entire year in our forecast" reported a satisfied Bernd Hoffmannn. Moreover the CEO of Schmitz Cargobull AG and his team have laid the foundations for further jumps in sales with investment in new manufacturing capacity.

With more than 50,000 vehicles and turnover of € 1.685 billion, Schmitz Cargobull again presented record figures for financial year 2006/2007 (1^st April 2006 to 31^st March 2007). In so doing the market leader profited from the economic recovery in Europe and significantly exceeded the high growth targets for the financial year. The significant presence of the "Blue Elephants" in all European markets and the advancement in the company's technological and quality leadership are reflected in these figures. The healthy economical situation in the volume markets quickly got rid of any investment backlog from the previous years. "The demand led to an order backlog in spite of the forward looking investment in capacity expansion, which resulted in delivery times of several months. At the end of the financial year, the order book comprised orders for 28,000 vehicles", reported CEO Bernd Hoffmann. Where speciality vehicles, such as tipper trailers, are concerned, production capacities are fully accounted for well into 2008.

All Schmitz Cargobull AG's product ranges have profited from the favourable development of the market. The 3,189 group employees, average over the financial year, produced some 51,000 vehicles. The increase of some 15,000 units, or 41 percent, relative to the previous year (over 36,000 vehicles) was thus considerably above the average growth for the commercial vehicle industry as a whole of some five percent. One of the foundations for the strong growth was the use of bolted assembly technology and hot galvanizing of the trailer chassis. In parallel, management smoothed the way for industrial serial production by adopting the platform strategy. The modular assembly of vehicles from the main components chassis, running gear and body also provides flexibility in the design of individual trailers.

Schmitz Cargobull has Europe-wide, comprehensive coverage as well good market positioning. The network of 38 self-owned sales and service centres grew in the financial year with the addition of four modern Cargobull Trailer Centres. More than 700 authorised partner operations guarantee uniform maintenance and service quality. Amongst those customers who find our country-specific and long-term experience valuable, are large logistics and trading groups with fleets operating throughout Europe.

Nominated "Factory of the Year"
Schmitz Cargobull AG invested more than € 56 million in building up capacity in the nine factories in order to be equipped to meet further jumps in economic growth. The target is to reduce bottlenecks and shorten delivery times. The productivity jumps plus the consistent introduction of the Schmitz Cargobull production system, based on Toyota's production philosophy, also impressed the consultants at A.T. Kearney. At the end of 2006 they nominated the Altenberge factory "Factory of the Year" in the category "Outstanding Production Technology" in the business magazine "Produktion".

The unchecked and clearly robust boom in the European transport market was a positive surprise for Schmitz Cargobull. Due to the resulting growth stimulus, the company was in effect able to leap forward a year in its forecast plans. The board has taken this as an opportunity to update the forecast plans in the Strategy 2010+. "The reworked strategy 2012+ should be available at the end of 2007", reported CEO Bernd Hoffmann.

More information:
Gerd Rohrsen: Tel.: +49 2558 81-1323    
Andrea Ewering:                         -1321                                                   
Fax: +49 2558 81-1287