As part of a strategic realignment, the Austrian Semperit Group will in future focus on the industrial sector and transform into an industrial rubber specialist. As a consequence, the company will separate from the medical business in whole or in parts. In light of the very dynamic competitive environment, maintaining the medical business would require high investments, said Semperit. The company sees higher earnings and profitability potential on the basis of a stronger focus on the industrial sector compared with the continuation of both sectors with increased investment requirements.
The separation from the medical business affects all Sempermed sites and therefore also the production of surgical gloves, which forms a part of the Semperit main site in Wimpassing, Austria. However, Wimpassing hosts primarily the industrial segments Semperform and Semperflex, while also controlling key group-wide departments such as research and development or mixing. In the future, the site will have an even higher relevance, not just due to its historical significance, but also with regard to the technological differentiation of Semperit products, which needs to be accentuated even more strongly. Until the end of 2024, the company is to grow again to a significantly higher revenue volume through organic growth steps and a clear M+A strategy.
The Semperit Group employs around 7,100 people worldwide, including about 3,800 in Asia and around 900 in Austria. The company has 14 manufacturing facilities worldwide and numerous sales offices in Europe, Asia, Australia, and America. The group produces rubber products for the medical and industrial sectors, e.g., examination and surgical gloves, hydraulic and industrial hoses, conveyor belts, escalator handrails, construction profiles, cable car rings, and products for railway superstructures. In 2018, Semperit achieved a revenue of EUR 878.5 million.
“We have made the biggest strategic landmark decision of the past decades very deliberately: It shall ensure the future viability and higher profitability of the Semperit Group. The future of Semperit is clearly in the Industrial Sector,” said Dr. Martin Füllenbach, Chief Executive Officer of Semperit AG Holding. “Despite our clear improvement of the operating performance indicators at Sempermed from the second quarter of 2019 on, we are faced with drastically intensified competitive dynamics in the Medical Sector; the capacity-based gap between us and the market leaders is growing. This is why we are firmly convinced that our medical business can be better continued and developed by different owners.”