The Trump boss wants to continue doing business with China.
(Photo: dpa)
Stuttgart Trump boss Nicola Leibinger-Kammüller is concerned about China. At the opening of the party conference, head of state Xi Jinping once again threatened military action against the island nation of Taiwan. “An attack by China on Taiwan must be the red line,” said the head of the Swabian laser specialist on Thursday when the business figures were presented.
The West must clearly oppose the incorporation of Taiwan. In the event of an annexation of the island, every company would have to choose a side. “For me, that’s not a question. The USA is clearly the partner for upstanding democrats,” said Leibinger-Kammüller. But up to the worst case, the following applies: “Dialogue yes, pragmatism yes – you have to keep talking,” emphasized Leibinger-Kammüller.
Therefore, the planned trip by Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) to Beijing is correct. The company boss reported that she herself had been asked, but was not going along. “This makes more sense for large companies, where the political level is more important for the conclusion of contracts.”
With Jiangsu Jinfangyuan (JFY), Trumpf was the first medium-sized company to be able to completely take over a Chinese machine tool manufacturer, certainly with the political support of the then Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU).
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Forgoing China as a sales market would have “serious consequences” for Trumpf and the German economy, said the entrepreneur. The medium-sized company is not as exposed to China as the car industry, for example, but with a turnover of 575 million euros, the country is the fourth largest market in Swabia. This is not as easy to replace as, for example, Russia after the sanctions for the attack on Ukraine.
The mechanical engineering company achieved a sales record in the past financial year.
(Photo: dpa)
China is of course a dictatorship, Leibinger-Kammüller pointed out. But only six percent of the countries worldwide are flawless democracies. “If we only do business with these states, we can no longer maintain our standard of living,” said the Trumpf boss.
Chip technology drives profit
Meanwhile, the mechanical engineering company’s business continues to do well. In the first quarter, which began on July 1, order intake continued to rise, although not as strongly as in the previous year, as CFO Lars Grünert said. Sales increased between 10 and 20 percent.
In the past fiscal year 2021/2022, Trumpf increased its operating earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) by 26.8 percent to EUR 468 million compared to the same period last year. The bottom line was a net profit of 310 million euros. The EBIT margin rose from 10.5 to 11.1 percent.
The most important drivers of the profit are the so-called EUV lasers, which are indispensable for the production machines of the most modern chip generation. Trumpf is the only manufacturer in the world that can produce the laser for the finest semiconductor structures – and supplies it exclusively to the customer ASML. With their monopoly position, the Dutch are among the most valuable companies in Europe. The optics also come exclusively from Carl Zeiss.
>> Read also: Siemens wants to massively expand China business – and risks new dependency
Trumpf wants to build 100 machines in the coming year. Customers are Samsung, Intel and TSMC. According to preliminary figures for 2021/2022, the company had already announced record sales of 4.2 billion euros and a 42 percent increase in incoming orders to 5.6 billion euros in July.
Employees receive a bonus of 2478 euros
“As a result of the strong increase in demand in the second half of the year, we started the new financial year with a high level of incoming orders,” said Leibinger-Kammüller. Nevertheless, there remains a great deal of uncertainty for the coming months, “how the bottlenecks in the supply chains, high inflation, rising material and energy prices and transport costs will affect our business”. A growing restraint in demand can be felt in many markets.
The company recently created 2,000 jobs worldwide. Almost a third of the more than 16,554 employees work at the headquarters. The medium-sized company increased the profit participation for the past year from 1365 to 2478 euros. The management held out the prospect of an additional payment of an inflation adjustment under the condition of tax exemption.
More: Trumpf Chief Technology Officer Leibinger on quantum computing in Germany