WCA July 2017

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Wire & Cable ASIA – July/August 2017
Industrynews
Leoni, with about 79,000 employees
worldwide, generated sales of €4.4
billion in the fiscal year 2016 (2015:
€4.5 billion).
Earnings before interest and taxes
(EBIT) amounted to €78.1 million
(2015: €151.3 million). At the financial
statement press conference, Dieter
Bellé, CEO and president, explained
that this decline is mainly due to
restructuring expenses of €31.4mn and
losses due to a fraud case of
approximately €40mn.
On an adjusted basis, EBIT improved
by about 12 per cent to €160.2 million
(2015: €143.6 million).
In 2016 the company’s two divisions –
Wiring Systems Division (WSD) and
Wire and Cable Solutions (WCS) –
realised more than three per cent
organic growth in terms of earnings
before interest and taxes.
Investments: In the 2016 financial year,
Leoni invested €211 million in property,
plant and equipment. This investment
related mainly to the expansion of
wiring systems production capacity in
China, North Africa and Eastern
Europe and rebuilding work at the
plant in Kitzingen, Germany.
Furthermore, about €134 million was
invested in research and development.
Projects in China, Mexico and India:
WSD, which develops, produces and
distributes ready-to-install cable
harnesses for passenger cars and
commercial vehicles, launched a
reorganisation in 2016.
One of the outstanding business
activities was the acquisition of a 51
per cent stake in the Chinese wiring
systems manufacturer Wuhan
Hengtong Automotive. This step
strengthens Leoni’s position in the
Asian market as it now also supplies
Dongfeng Peugeot Citroën
Automobile, China’s second largest car
manufacturer.
In mid-2017 the new Leoni plant in
Merida, Mexico, will start operation
and strengthen the company’s position
in America.
The WCS division, which develops,
manufactures and sells wires, strands,
tapes and optical fibres as well as
electromechanical components,
enlarged its capacity to produce
standard automotive cables;
commissioned a PVC processing line
in China; and began its installation of
an irradiation crosslinking line in India.
Alongside the consistently good
automotive cables business in Europe
and the Americas, there was increased
demand especially from the robotics,
medical technology as well as
automation and drive technology
sectors. The division streamlined its
portfolio in 2016 as part of its strategic
realignment towards becoming a
solution provider as well as a systems
and development partner.
To that end, it sold its Leoni Studer
Hard GmbH subsidiary and initiated
the disposal of its electrical appliance
cables business, which is to be
completed in the first half of 2017. On
the other hand, Leoni acquired in
February 2017 a two-thirds holding in
Adaptricity AG, an ETH Zürich
spin-off.
Leoni will be able to deploy proprietary
software that generates time
series-based simulations, for example
to optimise power distribution grids by
applying SmartGrid technologies. The
company will thereby contribute to
intelligent power distribution.
Leoni is now going to realise its
‘Factory of the Future’ project in the
town of Roth near the company’s
headquarters in Nuremberg and will
be investing €90 million in the facility.
The construction phase officially
started on 5th April this year. On a
134,000m² area buildings covering a
total floor space of about 57,000m² will
be erected with the intention of it being
one of Europe’s most modern cable
plants.
Besides additional production capacity,
the buildings will comprise a laboratory
and development centre for innovative
products and an educational and
advanced training facility.
Leoni expects to start step-by-step
relocation of its ongoing production
from the existing plant in Roth in early
2019. Relocation of the roughly 800
employees to the new factory is likely
to be completed in mid-2020.
A bright future lies ahead
By Konrad Dengler