Bosch Group reports 9% sales growth for 2011
The Bosch Group today announced its financial results for the 2011 fiscal year, reporting total sales of RM206 billion worldwide, and pre-tax profit of RM10.4 billion. These figures represent a 9% year-on-year growth from 2010. More than half of that revenue was accounted for by its Automotive Technology division, which grew 8.2% to deliver RM121.6 billion worth of sales.
The company projects growth in the region of 3-5% for 2012, and has budgeted to shell out more than RM12 billion for capital expenditure and a further RM18.4 billion for research and development, a RM1.6 billion increase from 2011.
Strong attention is being paid to the Asia Pacific region, which generated sales revenue of RM48 billion for the company, growing 8.9% from the previous year. In response, the company has invested an additional RM3.2 billion into the region, and it is anticipating to achieve sales growth of 30% by 2015. The vibrant South East Asia region saw sales increase by 11.3% to register RM2.2 billion for the year, with Malaysia being the region’s third largest contributor at RM488 million.
According to Martin Hayes, President of Bosch in South East Asia and Managing Director of Bosch in Malaysia and Singapore, “We had a structural dip of over 6% in revenue in Malaysia compared to the previous year. The main reason is that in line with the drop in demand for car radio systems in the Malaysian market, we are gradually phasing out production and sales of these systems in the country. At the same time, we are switching to the production of car multimedia systems, which serve as complete infotainment systems integrating functions such as radio, navigation and CD. We are also progressively ceasing production assembly of printed circuit boards.”
He further added, “Bosch remains bullish about our business presence in Malaysia. The drop in sales is a temporary decline, which will be more than offset by the healthy volume of sales orders we are currently receiving for car multimedia systems for the Malaysian market.”
Among Bosch’s customers for its multimedia system is Proton, whose top-spec Preve features a built-in multimedia navigator unit supplied by Bosch. Bosch’s team of Malaysian engineers based in Penang played a key role in the unit’s development. In addition to the multimedia unit, the Preve also takes its electronic stability control (ESC) system from Bosch.
Shiva Kumar, Senior Manager for Original Equipment Sales at Robert Bosch Sdn Bhd, said, “Currently, 38% of vehicles on Malaysian roads are fitted with ABS, and only 5% with ESC. Bosch plans to strengthen and extend our partnership with local automotive manufacturers to continuously improve vehicle safety.”
Last week, Bosch received the 2012 Global Innovation Award by the Global New Car Assessment Programme (NCAP) at the South East Asia Automotive Week 2012 hosted by the Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Technology (MIROS) in Malacca.
Further discussing the benefits of ESC technology, Kumar noted that, “While a driver’s behaviour remains as one of the most important elements of road safety, technology has evolved to the point of being able to play a critical role in preventing accidents. By 2016, we hope to see the push for the installation rate of ABS to reach more than 50% and almost 10% for ESC by all automotive companies in Malaysia across all car models, and not limited to premium makes.”
KON
