Bang & Bonsomer, as well as the industry in general, has encountered substantial challenges following the slow-down in demand in Quarter 4/2008 and very volatile exchange rates. Anticipating the changes coming, we started to take measures to mitigate the impact on our business already during Q2 last year. We speeded up restructuring of our Russian operations by closing one of the legal entities. We have been able to significantly reduce our cost base and to streamline the organisation and to divest non-core assets. It’s also worth underlining that redundancies have primarily been made in non-sales departments of the organisation. 

Our improvement program has also included the working capital, where significant improvements have been achieved. Inventory is declining steadily and accounts receivables’ rotation is improving despite the fact that constrained credit limits obviously have affected many of our customers. Some smaller clients have already filed for bankruptcy causing us some credit losses, which luckily so far are fairly minor. 

The business improvement program is clearly yielding results. Our operational result for the first quarter was positive, although we were still plagued by volatile exchange rates. Following the recent changes in the key exchange rates we have been able to balance our currency portfolio and to reduce future risks. 

The market conditions are likely to remain challenging during the coming year(s). We are, however, viewing the future with confidence. We see increasing demand in some segments and regions and we are strongly committed to our strategy to a long-term preferred partner for our customers, suppliers and employees and to provide an efficient and reliable market channel mainly for specialty products in the market regions, which we have chosen.

Johan von Knorring

President, CEO