16 March 2009

Klasmann-Deilmann, the global leader in substrate production, closed the 2008 financial year with a good result. The new factory in Lithuania, scheduled to open at the end of 2009, will increase production capacities significantly.

In 2008, the company produced a total of 3.4 million m³ of substrates and potting soil. The consolidated revenue of the group was 141 million euros. The number of employees world-wide remained more or less stable at 964. Twenty five of these are trainees in technical, commercial and IT occupations.

Managing director Dr Norbert Siebels commented: “The scarcity of raw materials due to bad weather conditions in the winter of 2007/2008 led to temporary delivery difficulties. Since last summer we have built up a good stock of raw materials so that we can start the new year optimistically. And in addition, we will be starting up production at a new, high-performance factory in Lithuania at the end of the year. All this means that we can expect a considerable rise in sales, especially on international markets.”

Two product lines were successfully launched globally under the Klasmann substrate brand name in 2008: Klasmann easy growing and Klasmann select. “We were surprised by the huge response to these new product lines”, said Dr Siebels. “Our bestsellers in the Klasmann easy growing line are now seeing a much greater demand. And Klasmann select has established itself as a substrate product that supplies individual solutions for special needs.” In 2009 the company expects this sales strategy to have further positive effects on substrate sales figures.

In November 2008, Klasmann-Deilmann was certified according to the international environmental norm DIN EN ISO 14001:2004. As part of the certification process, the company formulated an environmental policy aimed at sustainability, which includes a wide range of environmental protection measures, procedures for the responsible handling of resources as well as staff training programmes. The policy builds on the company’s years of experience in the preservation of peat bogs as well as procedures developed for the renaturalisation of former peat extraction sites.

Managing director Dr Hans-Georg Belka said, “The ISO certificate comprises a package of measures that Klasmann-Deilmann has already been implementing for years. Customers are rightly more and more concerned about where we stand in environmental matters and so we thought it was time we took ISO 14001 as a yardstick and turned our wide range of activities into an official environmental policy. We are proud of what we do. The certificate gives us an additional incentive to continue to develop what we have already achieved.”