Annual Report 2007 - Muehlhan AG

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the second: Energy commodity costs are also increasing
with growing world energy demand. that makes it
appealing for the operators of exploration and production
facilities to extend operational lives and to delay scheduled
maintenance work as much as possible when doing so. in
recent times, this has resulted in a significant maintenance
shortfall. the awareness of the requirement for these
maintenance measures, which was not very pronounced
in the past, has finally been aroused in the recent past as
a result of serious damage to oil pipelines, tankers and
exploration and production facilities. as a result of the
negative image in the public caused by the damage, and
as a result of increased environmental requirements, oil
companies are finding themselves disposed to perform
many billions of Euros worth of maintenance work in
the coming years.
Group of providers for marine
surface protection still heavily fragmented
around the world, a large number of small and mediumsized
providers in the field of marine surface protection are
confronted with this strongly increasing demand-driven
market. at the same time, only eight providers around the
world are of a size comparable to our Group. We assume
that, due to the worldwide reputation of our trademark “µ”
and the high level of quality, we will be the market leader
in mid- to long-term perspectives as a result of market
consolidation and the acquisition of competitors.
business developMent
Despite revenue growth, rather
moderate earnings’ development
Muehlhan Group’s development is driven primarily by the
development of our subsidiary companies. their business
is in turn strongly affected by their backlog of orders and
by the profit situation of our customers. this was an
important reason why, in the previous year, we can still
look back on a result that is nearly break-even despite a
series of economic challenges.
Sales of EUR 196.1 million
in the prior fiscal year, the Group had sales totalling
Eur 196.1 million. Compared to the previous year’s sales
of Eur 184.4, this represents an increase of 6.3%.
in the Ship Newbuilding division, we enjoyed good order
volume in Europe. our customers are working at high
capacity utilization and currently have full order books
partially through 2012. all in all, the new construction
segment was nevertheless affected by the withdrawal
from some shipyards in Norway and missing follow-up
contracts of our american customers. overall Muehlhan
achieved sales in this segment of Eur 65.7 million, falling
short by Eur 5.8 million compared to last year’s figure.
in the Ship repairs division, Muehlhan benefited from the
start of a growth trend that might last for a long time as a
result of the high level of Ship Newbuilding work in the past
years and coming years. in this field, the Group was able
to register growth of 20.8% with sales of Eur 45.1 million
(previous year: Eur 37.3 million).
in the offshore oil & Gas business division, sales fell
with Eur 13.6 million short of the previous year’s sales
(Eur 17.6 million) by 22.5%, despite the extension of the
business to the northern North Sea. We were not able
to compensate for the decline in uS business in the Gulf
of Mexico with the new business in Europe. the reason
for the significant decline was the – from our perspective –
illegal poaching of customers and employees by a former
chief executive officer.
the industry Services business segment turned out quite
well. as a result of the broad diversification of our service
offerings, we were able to expand the division into a
strong sales contributor. Sales for the reporting period
were Eur 71.5 million, and thus a good 24.3% greater
than the same period last year (2006: Eur 57.5 million).
Earnings of EUR 2.9 million EBIT
as a result of the unplanned burdens for the earnings in
the uSa and in Norway, and the partially delayed starts of
projects in the Middle East and in Great britain, earnings in
particular remained significantly below expectations: Ebit
was Eur 2.9 million and was therefore Eur 5.2 million
less than the previous year (Eur 8.1 million).