Bengali
English
Hindi
Tamil
On 3 February 2016 the diverse engineering and industrial group Langley Holdings, published its IFRS Annual Report and Accounts for the year ended 31 December 2015. The UK headquartered group reported a pretax profit of 106.7 million Euros on revenues of 874.5 million Euros. The group had nil debt and almost 330 million Euros of cash reserves at the year end. Tony Langley said in his Chairman’s Review that 2015 had been a ‘significant milestone’ for a number of reasons.
In his concluding remarks, Langley acknowledged the contribution made by the group’s near 4,300 employees, commenting that the outstanding performance is ‘no accident.’ With opening order books totalling 300 million Euros, he expects 2016 will be another successful year and says that the group will continue to search out new acquisition opportunities.
Manroland Sheetfed, the largest of the group’s five divisions in revenue and employee terms, was in positive territory for the fourth year in succession, since acquiring the printing press builder in early 2012. According to the annual report Manroland Sheetfed had revenues of 291.9 million Euros in 2015 (288.2 million Euros in 2014); orders on hand for 79.5 million Euros (48.3 million Euros in 2014) and numbered 1,609 employees.
The report goes on to state that Manroland Sheetfed represented 33% of the group’s revenue and 37% of its employees. In line with expectations in 2015, the division contributed around 10% towards the group result with revenues of 291.9 million Euros. The market for new presses saw something of an improvement in 2015 with a flush of orders, following the Euro devaluation early last year, but that petered later in the year.
New press margins remained thin, although the aftermarket continued to be robust. New press sales dropped dramatically right across the industry in the aftermath of the financial crisis, which means that the stock of presses in the field has become older and as this equipment continues to age, demand for replacement parts and service has tended to increase. The report also quotes Tony Langley, “The two principal competitors, both German, continue to languish and their re-alignment of capacity to current demand remains glacially slow. With over-supply new press prices remain depressed and will continue to be so until supply is aligned with demand.
“However, our press manufacture is correctly structured. Before we acquired Manroland four years ago, the business was a lumbering leviathan. Today, it is an efficient business with its break-even point a fraction of former levels. During our stewardship production has been consolidated to a single location and rationalized, surplus buildings and machinery disposed of and head counts significantly reduced. Stock, debtors and other assets acquired at a substantial discount have been turned to cash and cash collection has significantly improved.
“During this period, research and development has continued and the next-generation platform, the Roland 700 Evolution, was launched in November 2014. The Evolution has been well received by the market in 2015 and is now firmly established. All in all, I am very satisfied with the achievements in this division and pleased to report that towards the end of 2015, the group cash position passed the level it would have been, had the acquisition not taken place. We now have our money back, a healthy order backlog going into 2016 and much potential for the future,” concludes Langley in the report.
Langley Holdings is a diverse, privately owned engineering and industrial group based in the UK with principal operating divisions located in Germany and France and more than 80 subsidiaries worldwide. The group’s companies produce equipment ranging from electrical systems for data centres, machinery for cement and steel plants to food packaging lines, automotive welding equipment and printing presses. The group was founded in 1975 by the current chairman, Tony Langley, and currently employs around 4,300 people worldwide.
