VOSSLOH: Following ‘a detailed assessment’ of the company’s product range, the Supervisory Board of German track components and rolling stock supplier Vossloh AG announced on December 2 that its Transportation division ‘is no longer defined as core business’. The intention is therefore to sell Transportation ‘in whole or in parts by 2017 at the latest’, or transfer it to a partnership which would no longer be controlled by Vossloh.
According to the company, analysis has shown ‘very clearly’ that ‘none of the operations of Transportation under the umbrella of Vossloh can achieve the necessary size and international positioning’ required for ‘sustainably positive business development’.
Comprising the plants at Kiel in Germany and Valencia in Spain that produce locomotives and light rail vehicles, as well as Vossloh Kiepe which manufactures electric traction equipment, the Transportation division is expected is contribute approximately €500m to group sales of around €1∙34bn in 2014. Pending a sale, it is to become of one of four business units at a restructured Vossloh AG.
As the core activity of the company, the former Rail Infrastructure division is to be divided from 2015 into three new business units: Core Components (rail fastenings), Customised Modules (switches) and Lifecycle Solutions (specialised track maintenance). Rail Infrastructure currently comprises Vossloh Fastening Systems GmbH, Vossloh Cogifer SA and Vossloh Rail Services GmbH.
According to Vossloh, this restructuring marks the start of the longer-term transformation of the group into a new company in the rail infrastructure market. ‘In connection with this realignment’, said Vossloh, ‘it is also planned to strengthen the three new core divisions through acquisitions, where appropriate’.
Based on market size, forecast market growth and technological standards, Western Europe, China, the USA and Russia have been identified as the four ‘primary focus markets’ for the restructured company. The goal is to become ‘one of the two leading suppliers in the product areas and regional markets which are significant to Vossloh’.
CEO Hans Martin Schabert said that Vossloh would concentrate its future operations on ‘technologically demanding regional growth markets’ in the rail infrastructure sector ‘in which we already have good market access or where we have the perspective of being able to achieve this’. In addition to the four core target areas, ‘additional attractive markets have been defined for intensive development’, he added.
