- 123 million Euro turnover in financial year 2017
- High order intake despite restrained investments in oil and gas market
- Rail segment achieves dynamic growth
The price of crude oil has recovered somewhat in comparison to previous years, nevertheless 2017 still saw a noticeable reluctance by oil-producing companies to invest. That also had an impact on our business results," says Steffen Philipp, Managing Partner of the HIMA Group. "We’re pleased we were successfully able to assert ourselves in this difficult environment."
Milestones in the process segment
Even though the global process industry was generally cautious in 2017, HIMA achieved important successes in its core business. These include the signing of a long-term service agreement by Japanese oil company INPEX for maintenance of the safety systems at the Ichthys LNG project in Australia. Ichthys is one of the largest energy projects in the world, and HIMA has been involved in the project since 2009. The systems, equipped with safety technology from Brühl, Germany, were successfully put into operation in 2018 after nearly ten years of planning and construction.
In addition, HIMA has entered into new strategic partnerships and has commenced direct sales in the UK and Ireland. Instead of having a system integrator, customers now have direct access there to HIMA's solutions and services.
Rail business booming
HIMA continues to grow steadily in the rail segment, with 2017 once again witnessing a double-digit increase. Commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) safety controllers have established themselves within the rail industry and proven themselves worldwide. In 2017, HIMA won a 1.8 million Euro contract in the rail segment, the company’s biggest ever award in the industry and one which saw state-owned company PT Len in Indonesia modernize a total of 25 railway stations using HIMA technology. Follow-up orders have already been placed in the interim and a long-term cooperation agreement has been concluded. "We want to expand the rail business and expect further dynamic growth in the coming years. We currently have 50 partners in over 30 countries which use our COTS systems," commented HIMA CEO Sankar Ramakrishnan.
Meeting the future with strong partners
With its new "Smart Safety" positioning introduced in 2017, the family-owned company has also further sharpened its profile as the first point of contact for intelligent safety solutions. HIMA is using 2018 to underscore its ambition to assume technology leadership by organizing a total of five user conferences on three continents. The events in Shanghai, Abu Dhabi, Bangkok, Dordrecht (NL) and Mannheim boasted between 80 and 150 participants. Users, partners and industry experts discussed new challenges such as cybersecurity which have arisen in the course of digitization, as well as exploring market trends and future-oriented security concepts.
"The current year has seen the business climate in the process industry brighten considerably, and we can see that the course we’ve taken from being a component supplier to a solution provider is bearing fruit. For the 2018 financial year, we expect sales to exceed the previous year's figure by somewhere in the single-digit percentage range. The market for safety and security is a growth market across industries, thus we’re optimistic about the future," said HIMA CFO Tobias Hoche. "By investing in digital infrastructure we’re also laying the foundation for future growth and looking to consistently expand our position in international markets,” Hoche added.
