Zurich: Sulzer's Chief Executive Officer Ton Buechner raised his outlook for annual orders and said managers will put more energy into acquisitions as the Swiss pump maker emerges from an overhaul.
"In 2009, a lot of management time was spent on adapting to the new market," Buechner said in an interview yesterday. "In 2010 we'll likely have more time for external growth."
Sulzer is working on a pipeline of potential acquisition projects that are at various stages, the CEO said.
Order levels
Buechner has more than 1 billion Swiss francs (Dh3.4 billion) available for purchases that would coincide with signs of market recovery. Order levels will likely hold steady in 2010, rather than decline as first predicted in January, the CEO said. Orders through March fell 2.7 per cent to 817 million francs.
For the full year, Sulzer expects sales to decline and profitability to shrink to about 10 per cent as a reduced order backlog outweighs cost-cutting measures, Buechner said. The company plans to eliminate 1,400 jobs by 2011.
Sulzer has pursued smaller takeovers since shelving a $2.23 billion (Dh8 billion) bid for Bodycote International in 2007. It made as many as six attempts to buy the British metal-coating company.
Sulzer gained as much as 4.3 per cent and was trading up 2.8 per cent at 111.7 francs as of 10.58am in Zurich, boosting its market value to 3.82 billion francs.
Market conditions remained "challenging" in the first quarter, though Sulzer Pumps and Sulzer Chemtech, a maker of dispensers for energy and industrial clients, were awarded some larger projects. Stabilisation in some main markets also helped first-quarter orders outpace levels in the prior three periods.