GERMANY: Welding and rail maintenance and repair company Goldschmidt Thermit Group has said it ‘expects further significant growth’ this year, following a 12% increase in turnover to €127m in 2014. ‘The global market for rail infrastructure is booming’, according to CEO Dr Hans-Jürgen Mundinger. ‘There is considerable potential for us to achieve further growth’.

The company’s core business of welding using the Thermit process patented 120 years ago increased ‘considerably’ in the past year. The company now has 1 000 employees worldwide and invested €10m in expansion last year, including the opening of its Technology Innovation Centre in Leipzig. ‘From a smartphone app for the control of our precision measuring equipment up to machines for track construction and maintenance, we are continually reinventing ourselves’, said Mundinger.

Growth through acquisitions and joint ventures is planned. ‘We have identified companies we could use to expand our range of products and services to further substantially increase turnover and the profitability of the group’, continued Mundinger. ‘We have successfully concluded the takeover of PortaCo in the USA. This is a blueprint for further acquisitions. Our profitable growth has enabled us to create an excellent basis for investments.’