The net result for the group, at €262M, was €39M higher than the previous year (2009: €223M).
SMS Siemag and SMS Meer business areas profited equally from the upswing on their markets. Order intake at SMS Siemag was up by 28% to €1.892bn, and at SMS Meer by 20.6% to €1.039bn.
The average number of employees in the SMS group in 2010 totaled 9209 (2009: 9001).
The market for metallurgical plants and rolling mill technology bounced back noticeably in 2010. Now, after the crisis, the number of projects open for bidding has increased.
Capacity utilisation in the SMS group companies is essentially ensured until early 2012.
While customers in industrialized countries are focusing on revamps and business with new plants is still slow, the situation in the emerging economies is different. Since the end of the credit crunch, these countries have resumed their industrialisation drive and investment in new plants is on the rise again.
There is a strong demand for metallurgical plants in India, China, Brazil, and smaller Asian and South American countries.
In 2010, the SMS Siemag Business Area registered healthy interest in plants for the production of aluminium and other nonferrous metals. The group’s other Business Area, SMS Meer, achieved its best results with long product rolling mills. Project activity in China was slightly lower because so much new capacity has already been built up in recent years.
Principally, the SMS group expects further growth in India, China, South America, and the Middle East. Per-capita steel consumption in these regions is still relatively low. However, the unresolved debt crisis in Europe and the USA, political instability in the Middle East, and the high volatility of prices for raw materials all create uncertainty about further growth on these markets.