Assa Abloy show net sales increased by 15% to SEK 23,167 M in the fourth quarter results just released by the company aided by very strong sales growth in the Americas and Asia Pacific and strong growth for Global Technologies, with good growth in the EMEA and growth in Entrance Systems.
Nico Delvaux, President and CEO at Assa Abloy said ” One of Assa Abloy’s value creation strategies is product leadership and we have invested in the development of electromechanical solutions over a long period. This is clearly generating results. Today, 30% of our sales are generated by electromechanical products and in the fourth quarter sales also increased by 30%. We are seeing gratifying improvements in both the commercial and residential segments.”
Assa Abloy acquired five new companies during the quarter and a new manufacturing footprint programme was launched at the year-end. Delvaux explained,”To maintain our market leadership, we are continuously working to optimise our operations. During the quarter, we launched our seventh manufacturing footprint programme. As part of the programme we will close about 50 offices and factories, outsource more non-core activities and further increase automation. The restructuring cost for the total programme is estimated at SEK 1.5 billion, with a pay-back period of less than three years. SEK 1.2 billion was expensed in the fourth quarter and the remainder is expected to be expensed in Q4 2019.”
