Sanitec takes pan-European view for product

24 Oct, 14

Three year plan to reduce product lines by 25%

Sanitec is set to reduce its number of product lines by a quarter to create a higher proportion of pan-European models, generating economies of scale, the bathroom group announced at its Q3 financial results.

The group has already reduced one in four of its product lines to 45, announced its three-year plans to further reduce that figure by another 25%.

President and CEO of Sanitec, Peter Nilsson said: “We are continuing to work within the ‘One Sanitec’ framework regarding the coordination and launch of pan-European product lines. Some of this work has involved reducing the number of product lines by 25% to today’s level of approximately 45 series, of which about 20 are pan-European.

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“The aim is to reduce further by another 25% and to have a total offer of 35 product lines within a three year period, with an even higher proportion of pan-European models. This will of course generate economies of scale and enable further efficiencies.”

Speaking of Geberit’s recent takeover offer worth CHF 1.29bn, Nilsson said: “With a unique complementary offering for inhouse water and sanitary management, Geberit and Sanitec will become an unrivalled European player, both in front of and behind the wall. Together, we will have a strong go-to-market organisation with leading brands for both B2B and B2C, and a solid platform for continued expansion options, both geographically and product-wise.”

Sanitec had net sales of €174.3m, in Q3 an increase of 2.1% from the same period last year. Operating profit increased to €23.3m, an increase of 13.4%. Net sales for bathroom ceramics grew by 2.2% to €132.5m in Q3, which ceramics complementary products grew by 1.9% to €41.8m.

Sales in the UK and Ireland continued to perform strongly as net sales showed organic growth of 6.8% from last year, amounting to €15m.

Sales for Central Europe came to €55.3m, due to lower activity in the German economy and increased competition. North Europe increased to €41.4m, while East Europe increased to €295m. South Europe saw a decline of 2.1% to €27.2m, attributed to weak market conditions in Italy.

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