KRUPP HAS SATISFACTORY 1986 RESULTS
The Fried. Krupp GmbH
<KRPG.D> steel and engineering group said it had a satisfactory
1986 despite a provisional 12 pct fall in total group sales to
18.1 billion marks from 20.7 billion the previous year.
    Third party turnover declined to 15.9 billion from 18.5
billion in 1985 while orders slipped to 15.5 billion marks from
16.9 billion, it said in a preliminary statement.
    Despite these figures, which reflected the dollar's
weakness against the mark and oil and raw materials price
falls, it said 1986 was a satisfactory year.
    The reason was the continued expansion of the machinery and
plant sector, which accounted for 42 pct of total sales.
    Krupp added that some areas of the mechanical engineering
business achieved notable growth rates and acquisitions had
underpinned machinery and component activities.
    An orders decline in the steel and, in particular, the
trading and services sectors, affected the group's total order
figures.
    However, "all business sectors contributed to the positive
results achieved in 1986," Krupp added, without giving details.
    Domestic orders decreased by five pct to 9.6 billion marks
from the previous year and foreign orders fell 14 pct to 5.9
billion, it said. Foreign business accounted for 38 pct of
orders against 40 pct in 1985.
    Orders received by the machinery and plant sector, 11
member companies which comprise the core area of the group,
rose by four mln marks last year to 6.9 billion, Krupp said.
    The group's orders in hand amounted to 9.1 billion marks at
end-December 1986 from 10.3 billion at the start of the year.
    Orders received by the steel sector last year decreased by
three pct to 6.2 billion marks from 1985, it said.
    The steel market weakened increasingly over the year,
mainly because of exchange rate movements, the deterioration in
foreign trade and a downturn in a number of customer
industries.
    The difficult market for sections and flats of quality
steel depressed order tonnages by around seven pct, Krupp said.
But special steel boosted by strong demand for stainless
cold-rolled flats, grew by five pct in tonnage terms.
 REUTER
