Strong revenue growth and high investments

nora systems continues on its growth path: in 2015, the company increased its sales by seven percent compared to the previous year, from €204.6 million to €218.7 million. EBITDA also made a significant jump, rising from €31.5 million to €38.5 million. Investments in the Weinheim site, amounting to around €10 million, are the highest in over 15 years. In addition to acquiring three new systems, the manufacturer of rubber flooring and shoe components has also heavily invested in employee development: more than €1.2 million has been spent over the past three years on various measures and projects to further strengthen nora's position as an attractive employer. nora systems currently employs more than 1,000 people worldwide, over 830 of whom are in Germany. Weinheim is both the production site and the company's headquarters.

Continuation of good cooperation with ICG

The main owner of nora systems, Capiton AG, Berlin, and the British minority shareholder Intermediate Capital Group (ICG), agreed in early May that ICG would take a majority stake in nora. ICG had already held 26 percent of the shares since 2013. "We are pleased to be able to continue our good cooperation with ICG and are confident that we have found the right partner for a long-term, successful future," says CEO Andreas Mueller. In the coming weeks, the details will be worked out and the agreement finalized.

Regions develop differently

"The positive sales development in 2015 is very encouraging, but we must not overlook the fact that it is largely driven by currency exchange rate effects and favorable raw material prices," says Christa Hoffmann, responsible for finance. Both are factors beyond our influence. The development varied greatly across regions: "While we are experiencing good growth in North America and China and have secured our core markets in Europe, we had to accept sales declines in growth markets such as Latin America due to the tense political situation and the difficult economic environment," reports Mueller.

Efficiency increase through three new systems

"With investments in new systems, we ensure that the Weinheim site remains future-proof in the long term," says Dr. Peter Schwarzenberger, responsible for development, production, and engineering at nora systems. An automatic press for norament flooring has already been put into operation, a new press for norament, as well as one for lightweight foam materials, are ordered and will go into operation in 2017. "Thanks to state-of-the-art machinery, efficiency and quality will be significantly improved once again," Schwarzenberger is confident.

Long-term employee retention

nora systems continues to invest heavily in employee development. Measures range from improving internal communication and various training concepts to structural changes to make the company more visible in the Weinheim industrial park. "We want to retain our own employees closely and at the same time attract qualified new applicants," Hoffmann explains. "This ensures that nora systems remains competitive in the long term."