Increased investment volume

In 2011, investments in property, plant and equipment and intangible assets amounted to CHF 92.6 million, which is CHF 12.1 million or 15.0% above the level of the prior year. As a percentage of sales, the investment ratio in the year under review was 4.4% (prior year 3.7%). The strong Swiss Franc had a diminishing effect on the total investment volume when converting investment amounts from the Eurozone. As in the prior year, all planned, larger investment projects were carried out despite uncertain prospects.

In 2011, 50% of all investments, or CHF 45.8 million, was required for expanding the infrastructure. The Geberit Group used some CHF 10 million of that total for the procurement of tools and equipment for newly developed products. 30%, or CHF 28.1 million, was invested in the ongoing renewal of property, plant and equipment, while 20%, or CHF 18.7 million, was used for rationalization investments regarding property, plant and equipment.

The bulk of investments went toward the procurement of tools and molds for new products and toward machinery. Sizable investments were also made in the conversion and expansion as well as the new construction of buildings. Among other things, parts of the headquarters in Rapperswil-Jona were modernized (including the Geberit AquaClean production insourcing project), the project for the new construction of a production plant in India was begun, and the plant in Matrei, Austria was expanded with a production hall.