São Paulo – The Arab market answered to 8% of the exports of Kepler Weber group last year. The company, the world leader in products for storage of grain in Brazil, disclosed its results last week, with positive figures both on the domestic and on the foreign market. Exports grew 80% over the previous year, reaching 111.3 million reals (US$ 49.7 million – all figures calculated at current exchange rates). The company, headquartered in the city of Porto Alegre, capital of the state of Rio Grande do Sul, posted 119% growth in revenues, which rocketed from 170.7 million reals (US$ 76.3 million) to 374.4 million reals (US$ 167.3 million).
According to the commercial director at the company, Wilfried Toth, most of the Kepler Weber exports in 2008 – 80% – went to Latin America, especially Venezuela, Uruguay, Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay and Chile. "With the growing food prices, the concern with food safety has become priority for governments. The countries that are not agricultural need storage capacity," said the commercial director at Kepler Weber, partly explaining the company’s good performance.
Sales to the Arab market went to Syria and Egypt, being the Syrians the main buyers. "Egypt is a market that we are starting to develop," said Toth. The products were for storage of agricultural products. In the previous year, 2007, the company only made a small sale to Syria. Kepler Weber is interested, according to the commercial director, in expansion of its presence in the Arab market.
The fact that 2008 was a year of investment in the agricultural area and that the company was in the market with well-priced products helped in this performance. The group had a year of recovery, after having lived difficult years. Kepler Weber invested heavily, and made a debt to open a factory in Mato Grosso do Sul in 2004. The debt grew with the worsening of the crisis in the commodity market, in 2005. An agreement with shareholders and changes in the composition of capital, in 2007, improved the situation.
Last year, the company recovered its leadership in the market and returned to profitability, climbing from losses of 93.8 million reals (US$ 41.9 million) in 2007 to profit before taxes of 2 million reals (US$ 894,000). "The company returned to the market, at a moment of crisis, with a very competitive price," explained Toth. A strong brand, quality and improvement in delivery times, according to the executive, guaranteed leadership and results. The Kepler Weber Ebitda totalled 52.2 million reals (US$ 23.3 million) in 2008, with a margin of 16% over net revenues.
Kepler Weber
The company capacity is for the processing of 100,000 tonnes of steel a year and apart from the head office in Porto Alegre, the organisation has production units in Panambi, in the interior of the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Campo Grande, the capital of Mato Grosso do Sul, and Bauru, in the interior of São Paulo. The products made go from silos and dryers to transporters and machinery for cleaning and pre-cleaning. There are also solutions for dairy – milk tanks and milkers – and industrial installations with port terminals and units for storage of malt.
The company was established in 1925 by brothers Otto Kepler and Adolfo Kepler Jr. as a small blacksmith. In 1996, already exporting and well structured, the company was sold to a large financial institution. In 2007, after the capital was restructured, the Bank of Brazil Previ fund and the Bank of Brazil Investments (BBI) became the main shareholders, with 35% of the company capital.
*Translated by Mark Ament
