After around one year of “core integration”, euromicron is taking stock of the build and integrate phase it initiated in 2012. Important stages on the way to the Agenda 500 in 2015 have been achieved with the move to new locations, reorganization of management structures at the operating companies or expansion and modernization of the IT landscape. The integration measures are being flanked successfully by investments in product innovations and a Group-wide cost-cutting program.
euromicron has implemented the extensive integration measures initiated in 2012 as part of the 2- to 3-year phase of core integration at the Group as planned and achieved fine successes in doing so. The first €2 million in savings have been achieved in the first half of the year, of which some €1 million will have an impact in 2013.
Integration objectives achieved at the halfway point
The move to new locations, such as in Bamberg, Erfurt, Berlin, Hanover, Haan and at the headquarters in Frankfurt, means euromicron is now housed in modern, forward-looking establishments that also reflect its growth strategy. In most cases, euromicron was able to achieve savings by negotiating new tenancy agreements or synergies by merging branch offices of various group companies.
Expansion and modernization of the IT infrastructure was successfully driven forward in the first 1½ years of core integration, with the result that the euromicron Group now has an infrastructure that can be adapted in a modular and flexible manner to the company’s further growth. euromicron’s experts actively contributed their own specialist know-how to the process. By expanding IT into a shared service center for the entire Group, the company is also aiming to provide even better support for operational business and so help cut costs and save resources at the local companies.
With the reorganization of management structures at the operating units and further qualification of the Group’s management team, the objectives as part of personnel measures were also achieved at the halfway point in core integration. The Group will continue to actively work on ensuring the company is endowed with the management capacities required for its planned growth.
Future viability strengthened through product innovations
euromicron is established as a vendor-independent expert for network infrastructures. However, the Group also numbers well-known production companies, such as MICROSENS GmbH & Co. KG, EUROMICRON GmbH, LWL-Sachsenkabel GmbH, ProCom GmbH, ELABO GmbH, NBG Fiber Optics GmbH or SKM Skyline GmbH. These companies enable the Group’s system houses to offer their customers tailor-made, top-quality products and solutions. As part of this, euromicron’s own products and solutions are in competition with those from other market players and must win over customers through their performance and benefits.
Stepping up product innovations was therefore a further area of focus in the current integration phase. euromicron’s own work capitalized in 2012 was €5.6 million, €3.7 million higher than in the previous year. “That reflects the sharp increase in investments in connection with the development of new products aimed at securing our market position,” stresses Thomas Hoffmann from the Executive Board.
With its newly developed products, such as the FTTO and industrial switch and the SFP transceiver from MICROSENS, the CAT 6a module of SKM Skyline, the Primus One from ELABO or the DFS-21 of ProCom, the euromicron Group caters for highly specialized product niches and so creates a competitive edge for itself. Product innovations are a key component of euromicron’s strategy.
Cost-cutting program secures quality of earnings
Alongside the current integration measures, the company is reviewing all organizational, responsibility and cost structures, including all processes, so that the opportunities of the current phase of change can be fully tapped before it grows further. Cost-cutting programs involving a volume of around €10 million over the entire integration phase up to the end of 2014 will help secure the quality of earnings and a rapid return on investment.
Sights set on growth to €500 million in sales in 2015
euromicron has managed well in economic terms with the structural and integration measures implemented as planned on an operationally stable basis. “We are thus investing in the company’s sustainable development and a stable platform and – as in the first 10 years of building the company – we will benefit from that long term,” affirms Dr. Willibald Späth, Chairman of the Executive Board of euromicron.
euromicron AG (www.euromicron.de) is an all-round solution provider for communications, transport, data and security networks. euromicron’s network infrastructures integrate voice, video and data transport wirelessly, via copper cable and by means of fiber-optic technologies.
euromicron builds its leading applications, such as security, control, healthcare or surveillance systems, on the basis of these cutting-edge network infrastructures.
Founded on its expertise as a developer and producer of fiber-optic components, euromicron AG is a strongly growing, highly profitable group that is listed on the stock market, has a medium-sized character and focuses on operational growth, integration and further market penetration, internationalization and expansion.