President & CEO’s Review

In the Financial Statement 2011: 

In 2011 Glaston’s operating environment and market situation remained challenging. At the beginning of the year there were signs of growth, but in the second half the problems of the world economy were reflected in our customers’ willingness to invest and led to the postponement of larger investment decisions.

In 2011 Glaston’s market did not grow and our net sales fell slightly short of the previous year’s figure. Despite this, we still managed to improve our profitability significantly. All segments improved their result compared with the previous year. The biggest improvement came in the Machines segment. I would like to thank everyone in the organisation for their valuable contribution.

Continuous product development is extremely important to Glaston. Despite the recession, we have continued to invest strongly in research and development in order to maintain competitiveness. Last year, research and development spending totalled EUR 8.1 million, i.e. 5,7% of net sales. During the year we launched a number of new products covering the whole life cycle of glass processing.

I look towards 2012 with confidence. We are bringing our operational efficiency measures to completion. We have purposefully developed our operations and through active product development we are able to offer a comprehensive range of up-to-date products and services. These measures create a foundation for growing our business.

Arto Metsänen
President & CEO