Swissmetal – Evaluation of circumstances and forecast at the end of the year

The year 2009 is extremely difficult to forecast due to the current global economic crisis and its unpredictable influences on the industrial sectors.

The general weakening of the economy hit the non-ferrous metal industry in the final quarter of 2008. However, its effects differ greatly depending on sales market and it is not possible to esti-
mate its severity and duration on the basis of present knowledge. Swissmetal is thus preparing it-self intensively for a range of demand scenarios. Swissmetal has developed measures plans in line with these scenarios, and these can be implemented as and when required.

Typically, Swissmetal is not formulating any short-term prognosis due to the cyclical nature of the business, and is instead concentrating on the communication of its mid to long-term goals. At the centre of this lies the goal of achieving a return on capital after tax in 2010 of 9%, within the framework of the 2006-2010 strategic restructuring program.

In order to enable investors and other interested parties to ascertain the position and prospects of Swissmetal insofar as possible, given the exceptional current global economic circumstances, Swissmetal is providing somewhat more detailed information than usual on its essential sales markets. It is also presenting measures for a range of economic scenarios and providing a prognosis on the sales and profits for 2008, as well as its outlook for the future.

Measures for different cyclical scenarios

Even if the order entry in the first ten months of 2008 was very pleasing, Swissmetal has also noticed a reduction in inquiries in a few of sales markets for a few weeks. The extent of these new trends is still yet to be seen today. Swissmetal is proactive according to requirements but also fully prepares to the following measures:

• Reduction in overtime accounts and days off during periods of high demand.
• Release of temporary employees.
• Transitional short-time work in individual areas of the sites or as a whole. Swissmetal is in contact with the regional authorities and the employee union representatives to
  
• In an extreme case: Temporary shutting down of individual facilities as well as restructuring measures. This is preferably to avoid.

 

Outlook

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