Situation in global construction industry to remain challenging

Despite moderate global economic growth being forecast for this period, the construction industry will remain challenging in 2014. The individual regions/markets and construction sectors will develop very differently.

In Europe, volumes in the construction industry are continuing to contract overall. Apart from a few markets such as Germany, Switzerland and the United Kingdom/Ireland that are performing positively, most other markets have been seeing a clear fall in demand for some time. Within the construction sector, non-res­i­den­tial construction is failing to recover, but this is at least partially being compensated by a flat to slightly positive trend for residential construction. Furthermore, the renovation sector is developing better than the new building sector.

In North America, the relevant indicators in public construction projects are pointing to an uncertain development that will significantly affect the Geberit business in this market. In contrast, robust growth with rising prices and substantial piling up of demand can be seen in residential construction.

In the Far East/Pacific region, mid-single-digit growth is forecast for China in both residential and commercial construction. Busi­ness in Australia is expected to be flat overall, while Southeast Asia is expected to see moderate growth – though with sig­nif­i­cant differences between regions. The outlook for the Middle East and South Africa is positive.

Considerably lower volatility in raw material prices

The raw material markets relevant for Geberit eased during the reporting year. Flat to moderately increasing prices for plastics and flat to slightly declining prices for industrial metals are ex­pected over the coming quarters. However, due to the un­cer­tain economic environment, forecasts for 2014 as a whole are not possible.

Geberit

Owing to the tense situation in the majority of the European construction markets, 2014 will once again be a demanding business year for the Geberit Group. The objective is, not only in the few markets that are healthy but also in the large number of markets that are shrinking, to provide a convincing per­for­mance and to continue to gain market shares as in previous years. The focus will fall on the concerted marketing of the new products introduced in recent years, the more intense penetration of new markets and on the very promising shower toilet business. In line with the Geberit strategy, these measures will be accompanied by efforts to further optimize business processes. The management is convinced that the company is very well equipped for upcoming tasks. With experienced and highly motivated employees, a number of promising products that have been launched in recent years and product ideas for the more distant future, a lean and market-oriented or­gan­i­za­tion, an established cooperation based on trust with our market partners in both commerce and trade and – as a result of our industry leadership in terms of financial results in recent years – an extremely solid financial foundation, Geberit can look to the future with confidence.