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Teksid S.p.A Business report FY 2006

Business Highlights

Financial overview

(in million euros) FY2006 FY2005 Rate of
change 		Factors
Revenue 979 1,036 -5.5%
See below
Trading profit 56 45 +24.4%

Factors
Overall
In 2006, a French company (SBFM) active in the Cast Iron business was sold. Excluding the impact of this sale, the Company's revenues would have increased (+3.5%) with respect to the previous year.

Cast Iron Business unit
-Revenues of the Cast Iron Business unit decreased by 5.6% and volumes by 6.5%. The change is connected to the sales of SBFM. On a comparable basis, revenues would have increased by 7.2% due to both higher volumes (+1.5%) and the favorable effect of exchange rates, the Brazilian real in particular. Brazil was the highest growing area also in terms of revenues.
-The Company is also active in China through Hua Dong Teksid Automotive Foundry Co. Ltd, a jointly controlled company accounted for using the equity method. This company recorded a 20.2% increase in volumes from 2005.

Magnesium Business unit
The Magnesium Business Unit (where the Company operates through Meridian Technologies Inc., in which Teksid holds a 51% interest and Norway's Norsk Hydro group the remaining 49%) recorded a reduction in both revenues (-5.2%) and volumes (-6.2%) due to a slowdown in the reference market, in particular the North American market, which nevertheless continued to account for approximately 80% of revenues in 2006. As part of the Company's strategy to focus on its core business, in December 2006 the Company and Norsk Hydro reached an agreement for the sale of their interests in Meridian Technologies Inc. to a consortium of investors headed by the Swiss holding company Estatia AG. Completion of the transaction is subject to approval by competent authorities (received in 2007) and closing of the financing to the purchaser by financial institutions.

-The Company closed 2006 with a trading profit of 56 million euros. The improvement from the trading profit of 45 million euros of 2005 is due to efficiency gains.

R&D

R&D Expenditure

in million euros 2006 2005 2004 2003
R&D Expenditure 5 5 4 7

New Product Development
Compacted Graphite Iron (CGI)
Compacted Graphite Iron (CGI) is a material that has been well known for many years. Recently, its importance for the design of components in the automotive field has considerably risen. That material peculiarity has to be seen in the shape of graphite which is spread out within the metallic matrix. If observed through optical microscope, graphite particles appear as randomly oriented. They are oblong shaped ,with round edges. The whole particles constitute a true three dimensional, homogeneous and interconnected graphitic net. That particular structure is responsible for CGI specific properties. The absence of spiky edges along the borders between graphite and matrix let down, if compared to conventional gray iron, the tendency to crack formation within the material. For this reason, the goal of a considerable increasing of static and dynamic mechanical properties is reached. Furthermore, unlike what happens with ductile iron, the presence of such a net maintain at a considerable level the thermal conductivity and the dumping index. Those characteristics bring out CGI as a material particularly adapt for the production of cylinder blocks and heads for internal combustion engines.

Medium-term R&D projects
-NDC systems integration in production cycle
-Material data base for Low Cycle Fatigue engine component design
-New concept for engine components
-Compacted Graphite Iron process/product development
-Rapid Prototyping

Investment Activities

Investment in tangible and intangible assets (in million euros)

2006 2005
32 45

History of Investment activities since 2000

Jul. 2000 Company reduced its stake in Teksid For SpA of Rovigo, Italy by signing an agreement with the Infun SA Group of Barcelona, Spain, which gave the Spanish company a controlling interest in.
Apr. 2001 Opening of new manufacturing operation at Sylacauga - Alabama U.S.A. This new operation shall be run through the newly formed subsidiary Teksid Aluminum Components Inc., and will be totally dedicated to the production of aluminum cylinder heads and cylinder blocks for North American automotive customers.
The first plant has a covered manufacturing area of 220,000 Square feet and, utilizing the "lost foam" casting technology, will produce over 300,000 sets of heads and blocks /year for the Saturn Division of GM. The second plant of 70,000 square feet is under construction for the supply of V-6 cylinder blocks, produced in high-pressure die-casting. The annual production for these cylinder blocks is expected to reach a volume of more than 300,000 units.
At full capacity in 2004, more than 550 people are expected to be employed at this location.
Apr. 2001 Company has inaugurated the Hua Dong Teksid Automotive Foundry. Located at Zhenjiang City in the Jiangsu Province (Eastern China), this new facility will be engaged in the production of iron engine blocks for cars and light commercial vehicles. The foundry have been laid out to secure an initial production capacity of one million blocks a year (an output of some 50,000 tons per annum) to fill orders from Eastern China's leading automakers.