Sterling sells out to Grundfos The Grundfos Group has acquired Brazilian pump manufacturing company Mark Peerless SA,

which will m the future carry the name Mark Pumps Ltd. Nearly

half of rhe shares in Mark Peerless

SA are acquired through Sterling

Fluid Systems who will then withdraw from the indirect participation in Mark Peerless SA.

Mark Peerless SA, which is one of

the largest local players in the

Brazilian pump market, employs more than 130 people with yearly

sales of approximately USD 8M

and produces pumps for industrial

purposes, fire extinguishing, and water supply.

“With the acquisition of Mark Peerless SA, Grundfos intensifies

its focus on the Brazilian market”

says Group President Jens Jgrgen

Madsen of Grundfos. The company is already in the

Brazilian market with the sales company Grundfos do Brazil Ltda.

The companies will integrate their knowledge and workings.

Group Executive Vice President Carlo Prola, Grundfos, will

become Chairman of the Board of

Directors.

Weir reports good progress The Chairman of the Weir Group,

Sir Rohcrt Smith has commented on ith preliminary results for 2002 hy saying “Despite difficult market

conditions, Group results for 2002

were similar to last year due to margin improvements and impro-

ved operational performance in

our Engineering Products and

Services businesses, offsetting re- duction in our Techna Division

and associates’ earnings. Once

again, cash generation was excel- lent and the Company ended 2002

with no net deht.

Highlights: Profit in line with previous year

despite difficult marker con- dition\

Strong prrf&mance from

Minerals and Services divisions

Improved mar@ and opera- tional performance from Engin-

eering Products and Services

Strong balance sheet closing

2002 with zero debt Dividend increase

Strong performance from Weir’s

Minerals and Services Divisions

and margin and productivity improvements in its Engineering

Products and Services businesses enabled the company to deliver

profits at a similar level to last year.

The results from the Engineering

Products and Services businesses

were stronger when compared with last year. Weir’s Engineering

Products business includes the

operations of the Minerals, Clear Liquid and Valves and Controls

divisions. The interims the power generation end market remained soft although other major end

markets held up relatively well.

In Engineering Products operating

margins grew to 7.6% (7.2% in

2001). This growth, which was, in

rhe main, driven hy stronger

performances in the Minerals and

Valves and Controls Divisions, offset the effects of reduced

volumes in Weir’s Clear Liquid pump operations and increased

competition in most product areas.

Axflow gets Colfax from Allweiler Bombas S.A. are Allweiler screw,

progressing cavity and centrifugal pumps and Houttuin and IMO

screw pumps. In future, AxFlow, S.A. will distribute these product lines on an exclusive basis in

PortuRal and Spain.

Largest pumps ever built Sulzer Pumps has been awarded an order to supply four seawater injection pumps that are claimed as the largest ever built.

The pumps are each rated at approximately 26 MW absorbed power; this is some 50% greater power than the previous record.

They are to be supplied to the

Azerbaijan International Opera- ting Company (AIOC) for installation on their Com-

pression and Water Injection (C&WP) platform for the Azeri

Development Project in the

Azerbaijan sector of the Caspian Sea.

The pumps will he driven at 4800 ‘pm by Rolls Royce RB211 gas turbines. A ‘low flow’ pump cart- ridge fully interchangeable with the main pumps will also he supp- lied to meet the early phase in-

jection requirements. All pumps

will be string tested at full speed, full load and driven by the gas turbines at Sulzer Pumps test

facility in Leeds, UK, where the pumps will also be built. Delivery is scheduled for April to July 2004.

Grundfos takes comfort in the East

Despite the continued uncer-

tainty in the global economy, and generally difficult market con-

ditions in most of Grundfos’

markets, the group is recording

2002 as a fairly good year. The growth in turnover from DKK 10,214M to DKK 10,703M is seen

as satisfactory by Group Manage- ment and as a result of Grundfos’

continued global capture of market shares.

In recent years, Grundfos has focused on ensuring a large share

in the growth in the new Eastern

European and Far Eastern markets

and approximately 40% of the Group’s total growth in turnover

was generated there. This com- pensated partly for the low growth in the large markets such as

Germany, Japan, and the USA.

In 2002 Russia has produced the

highest growth in turnover with

40 per cent. This means that Russia is now a significant market

for Grundfos and is considered to

hold major growth potential.

Apart from Japan, the growth in the other Far Eastern markets reached 13%. Also in this region, and especially in China, Grundfos

will aim at increasing its growth

rates over the next years.

The new budget contains a record

in budgeted investments. A large

part of that will be spent on a number of new products to he

introduced in 2003 and another important part will he spent on

the expansion of the Group’s factories in Hungary and China and the establishment of a

production site in Russia.

KSB Aktiengesellschaft exports to the East KSB Aktiengesellschaft has won

orders in both Siberia and China.

In Western Siberia a mining

company has placed an order for

four submersible borehole pumps and all related control systems

worth some +? 2.2 million.

The pumps are to he installed in a 500 metre deep shaft to keep

the groundwater from a disused coalmine from flooding a neigh-

houring pit that is still being

worked.

The pump units are made entirely of high-grade duplex steel and will each unit is

expected to pump about 600

cubic metres of aggressive pit

water to the surface per hour.

In China, KSB is to deliver 330 pumps with a value in excess of

6 8 million to China by the end of September 2003. The

customer is a German-Chinese chemical company building an industrial complex in Nanjing.

The majority of pumps will he in-

stalled in the process lines of the chemical plants and are manufac-

tured at KSB’s location in Pegnitz, Germany. KSB Shanghai will

build a small number of pump units needed to supply the plant

with cooling water.

u . W0RI.D PUMPS May 2003 www.worldpumps.com