Firms report steady progress on Trelleborg-Vibracoustic venture

ERJ staff report (DS)

Weinheim, Germany -- Progress between Trelleborg and Vibracoustic on a merger is progressing steadily, with an announcement expected by the end of the year. The goal is still a 50-50 joint venture, said Dr. Martin Stark, Member of Freudenberg's Management Board during the company's annual press conference in Weinheim.

Dr. Peter Bettermann, Speaker of the Freudenberg Management Board, said, "The swift economic recovery, the improvements in structures during the crisis, strict financial management in all Business Groups and, last but not least, the dedication and flexibility of our associates are the main reasons for our good performance in the 2010 financial year."

The company said in a statement, "The 2009 slump in sales was entirely offset. At €5,481.4 million, sales were up 30.5 percent on the previous year (previous year: € 4,200.8 euros) and 8.5 higher than the pre-crisis level of 2008 (€5,050.1 million). Profit from operations rose disproportionately by €592.2 million to €430.6 million and was significantly higher than the good figure achieved in 2008. In terms of sales and profit, 2010 was therefore one of the most successful financial years in the history of the Freudenberg Group.

From 1 January, the comapny restructured most of its businesses. Freudenberg's classic sealing business previously operated on a regional basis by the Freudenberg Seals and Vibration Control Technology Europe Business Group for Europe and the Freudenberg-NOK General Partnership Business Group for North and South America, has been brought together under the umbrella of the new Freudenberg Sealing Technologies Business Group.

At the beginning of 2010, Vibracoustic took over all the shares of its joint venture partner Anvis Netherlands B.V., Venlo, Netherlands, and thus became the sole shareholder of Vibracoustic do Brasil Ltda., Taubaté-SP, Brazil. This will allow Vibracoustic to serve the South American market even more efficiently.

In October, Vibracoustic opened a plant in Yantai, China to produce vibration engineering components and commercial vehicle air springs for the Chinese automobile industry and to serve customers locally.

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Press release from Freudenberg

Freudenberg gründet Aktiengesellschaft from Weinheimer Nacrichtung (German language)

Freudenberg founded company Above story auto-translated into English from German