Schmolz + Bickenbach seems to be on the mountain. After several quarters with declining order backlog of these to wear since the fourth quarter, said chief financial officer Matthias Wellhausen. "The moderate upward trend continued also in the new year – until the end of last week. There was no sign of a Corona means nothing." On the contrary, The company have even received requests from the automotive industry, Schmolz + Bickenbach could not step in at short notice, if certain products from Asia are available.

This is a balm on the wounds of the company. Because in the last few quarters, the company got the slack demand in the auto industry – coupled with a slump in the engineering industry. "The past year has been one of the most difficult in the company's history. So a collapse in demand we have not seen since the financial crisis," says CEO Clemens Iller. The bottom line is a loss of 521 million Euro.

the banks

still missing The main owner had to jump into the breach: the owner of The car importer Amag, Martin Haefner, who shot through a capital increase of 325 million Swiss francs of fresh capital injected. He now owns almost half of the company. Of Liwet Holding the Russian Investor Viktor Vekselberg include a further 25 per cent. Now the banks are still missing: Until the end of March, the company intends to conclude the ongoing negotiations on loans and thus the financial requirements for a refurbishment to create.

The rehabilitation plan is to improve by 2024, the operating result (Ebitda) to EUR 274 million. To achieve this, plans to Schmolz + Bickenbach, among other things, in the loss of around 400 jobs in Germany. A reduction in Switzerland is not provided. These measures should bear fruit in the current year and lead to a significantly better result.

For an all-clear, but it is still too early. The impact of the Virus on the economy were currently not in sight, says the company's chief Iller. The impact on the company itself was small – as long as there is no plant closures in Europe. The direct exports to China make up only a very small part of the business.

Created: 11.03.2020, 20:18 PM