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KUKA 2012 annual general meeting: Strategy focused on profitable growth

Today KUKA looks back on its 2011 business year

6 June 2012


About 600 shareholders and guests attend the Annual General Meeting. The agenda includes the Executive Board's report. Dr. Till Reuter, CEO of KUKA, will also provide an outlook for the current fiscal year.

KUKA grew profitably in 2011 and had the most successful year in its history. All financial targets were achieved:

  • orders received rose 36 percent to EUR 1.55 billion
  • sales ended at EUR 1.44 billion, one-third higher than last year
  • EBIT growth outpaced other results, tripling to EUR 72.6 million

KUKA now commands a leading global position in the field of production process automation. The Robotics division further improved its global market share. KUKA's KR QUANTEC generation of robots and recently launched KR AGILUS represent new industrial benchmarks in robotics and set the stage for future growth.

The Systems division landed numerous attractive large orders. Just recently, the business unit received a supplier award for its exemplary cooperation with Volkswagen in China. Systems also received "Supplier of the year 2011" prizes from US carmaker General Motors, Opel and Northrop Grumman.

These results were driven by a corporate strategy that works, successful operations and prudent financial management, not to mention an additional success factor, which is the commitment of KUKA's employees. The company's new corporate tagline, "Smart Tools Meet Smart People" reflects how much KUKA values its human resources.

In order to stay ahead of the pack, KUKA continues to shape the future of robot-based automation from its headquarters in Augsburg, Germany. KUKA's vision is to develop new technological processes and software to considerably expand the range of applications for which robots are suitable.

KUKA also benefits from long-range global megatrends that dominate today's markets and will continue to do so in the future. This includes expanding automation in both the industrial and emerging nations, driven by rising wages and the growing demand for energy-efficient production and manufacturing methods.

The results of the first quarter of 2012 attest to KUKA's outstanding start to the current fiscal year. The company is also confident about fiscal 2012 overall. Provided there is no dramatic change in the general business environment, KUKA expects sales of about EUR 1.5 billion and a consolidated EBIT margin of between 5.5 and 6.0 percent, which puts the company on track to be able to pay a dividend again in 2012.