03/18/09
Annual Report 2008
The year 2008 was defined by the worldwide financial crisis, which led to a marked downturn in the real economy as well in the second half of the year. Especially hard hit by the effects of the crisis were many of our industrial customers, who posted substantial drops in sales and profits in the second half of the year. While tesa was unable to fully escape the impact of these developments, the company still developed faster than the market, with sales growing by 1.7% even in this difficult overall economic climate.
At 9.7%, the EBIT sales margin stayed at a very high level when compared across industries. This serves to prove once again that tesa has developed into a highly competitive enterprise that operates within flexible, efficient structures. The broad-based alignment of our business, and the global presence that we have expanded extensively in recent years, have proven to be competitive advantages in this situation especially.
Labtec has come to specialize in fields including patches capable of delivering medications. A transdermal therapeutic system (TTS) delivers an active ingredient through the skin, where it penetrates to the underlying tissue and the blood vessels. Experts expect double-digit growth rates for the overall TTS market.
In addition, the solid financial basis we have been cultivating since the company was founded, in 2001, now provides us with the leeway we need to continue pursuing our successful strategy consistently and to go forward with our planned investments in the future, even during the crisis.
One example is our acquisition, in December 2008, of the company Labtec GmbH, based in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with the aim of making further progress in breaking into the profitable business of the development and production of transdermal therapeutic systems for the pharmaceuticals industry.
We are providing key impetus for the further expansion of our successful business with the electrical engineering and electronics sector with an innovative production unit using cleanroom technology that is currently being built at the tesa plant in Hamburg. We are convinced that based on this advantageous competitive position, we will emerge from the current crisis even stronger than before.
We would especially like to express our gratitude to all employees worldwide, who are working hard together to shape the success of tesa, even in these tough times. We would also like to thank our customers, business partners, and our shareholder Beiersdorf for their trusting cooperation.
tesa worldwide
[PDF 144 KB]
Reinhart Martin
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