Oerlikon says it is on the way to recovery
Embattled technology group Oerlikon has announced it is on the mend after three years of red figures.
It managed to almost halve its loss in the first half to SFr50 million ($47.5 million) from SFr99 million a year ago, according to figures released by the group on Tuesday.
Oerlikon, which is active in the solar, vacuum and coating technologies as well as the textile industry, said it hoped to reach operational break even before restructuring costs in the second half of the year.
The group’s new chief executive, Michael Buscher, told Reuters news agency he expected to report figures in the black for 2011 and mentioned further possible restructuring measures.
Orders received in the first six months rose by 33 per cent to SFr2.1 billion, an Oerlikon statement said. Sales increased by ten per cent to SFr1.6 billion.
The group added that the main growth drivers were markets in Asia and in particular the textile and automobile markets, which were “once again growing robustly”. Asia’s share of sales rose to 41 per cent.
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