Helsinki, Finland—Metso Corp. reported Oct. 4 that its integration of Svedala's business units into its Metso Materials division has proceeded as planned since Svedala was acquired in September 2001, though its financial results have been better than anticipated.
Helsinki, Finland— Metso Corp. uring 2003, but that estimate has been moved up to more than 90 million euros per year, half of which is expected to occur during 2002. Metso states that, “The synergy benefits have been revised upwards because of better than expected results in the restructuring of manufacturing capacity and the combining of the distribution organizations.”
As part of its integration, Metso decided to sell or close 12 production units, mainly in North America. Of these, nine were already sold or closed at the end of September 2002 and the rest will be concluded by the end of the year. The integration of distribution operations also has been completed, and about 70 distribution and service units have been closed as a result. Metso Minerals also plans to sell several more production and distribution facilities that have become redundant due to its restructuring measures.
Metso reports these moves are forcing it to reduce its employees by about 1,800 from the beginning of the integration process to the end of 2002. Metso Minerals’ personnel totaled 11,040 at the end of June 2002.
In addition, four non-core businesses, Robot Pumps, Kranlyft, Interconsult and Rolac have been sold or shut down. The combined external net sales of these units totaled 79 million euros in 2001.
Also, one-time costs of the integration and restructuring, including related tax benefits, will be approximately 70 million euros. This is in line with what was estimated in the beginning of the integration process.
Following this recent acquisition and integration, Metso Minerals reports that it is the global market leader in supplying solutions, equipment and aftermarket services for rock and mineral crushing processes. The main customer segments are civil engineering contractors, quarries and mines. The company adds its acquisition of Svedala strengthened it, especially in the mining industry and in aftermarket operations.
Metso adds that consolidation among customers and their widening scope of activities increases demands on equipment suppliers to provide comprehensive solutions alongside individual products globally. Benefits of Metso Minerals’ enhanced market position are beginning to occur, such as comprehensive service contracts with mining and quarrying customers. In addition, integration of automation know-how in Metso Minerals’ products enables development of new generation automation systems in rock and mineral processing solutions, which will strengthen Metso Minerals’ market position.
Metso is a global supplier of process industry machinery and systems, as well as know-how and aftermarket services. The corporation’s core businesses are fiber and paper technology at Metso Paper; rock and mineral processing at Metso Minerals, and automation and control technology at Metso Automation.
Control Engineering Daily News Desk
Jim Montague, news editor
[email protected]
