Climate and manufacturing technology group Walter Meier increased its net sales to CHF 717.8 million in 2012.
This equates to year-on-year growth of 11.9 per cent and when adjusted for currency and consolidation effects, 1.9 per cent.
The Humidification & Evaporative Cooling division achieved the largest increase in net sales by some margin, at 64 per cent, but this is almost exclusively due to the acquisition of the American evaporative cooling specialist Port-A-Cool. In organic terms, sales fell slightly and were 0.4 per cent down on the previous year.
In contrast, the Tools division recorded organic growth of 9.5 per cent compared to 2011. This was primarily the result of continuing success in the US market for construction and industrial equipment.
Meanwhile, in the Climate division, the strength of the Swiss franc prevented the organic growth seen in previous years from progressing further and net sales declined by 2.7 per cent, or 0.4% in organic terms.
The company also took full ownership of chilled ceilings manufacturer MWH Barcol-Air at the end of last year, following its acquisition of a minority stake in 2011.
