DESMI Pursues Further Growth

- When you go from A to B, it is important that the road is good and you have a reliable means of transport. In the same way it is of decisive importance to have the right structure, organisation and working methods when a group like DESMI is to develop to a group where the activities in relation to turnover have passed one billion, says group CEO Henrik Sørensen and continues:

It is like asking whether the chicken or the egg came first. In DESMI we will establish the structures that enable further growth with a view to ensuring the necessary framework for a bigger enterprise.

DESMI was established in 1834 and is among the oldest Danish industrial enterprises, and it is our ambition to maintain momentum by strengthening the daily management with more resources to focus on operation. At the same time we also will make more resources available for business development and further structural development. Henrik Sørensen further states:

We have focused much on growth in recent years, but we are convinced that there are many opportunities also in connection with structural development and possible acquisitions of complementary business units and enterprises.

This is why DESMI is to establish a structure with three business units as of 1 January 2012: An Oil Spill business unit, a Pump business unit, and a Contracting business unit. They will all report to a parent company, DESMI A/S, and the idea is that this company will acquire more companies to the extent that is considered right.

This means that the pump activities will be gathered in an independent company in the DESMI group - a company that will be named DESMI Pumping Technology A/S as of 1 January 2012. As a starting point it is expected that this company will contribute with a turnover of about 500 million DKK in the first year. Henrik Mørkholt, who has been the Sales Director of DESMI A/S for a long period, will be appointed CEO of DESMI Pumping Technology A/S. Henrik Mørkholt, who has a background as marine engineer, will rank equally with Dennis W. Larsen, CEO of DESMI Ro-Clean A/S (the Oil Spill business unit) and Erling Pakula, CEO of DESMI Contracting A/S (the Contracting business unit).

The DESMI group aims high and the immediate target is to reach a turnover in the core business amounting to 1 billion DKK within the next three years. The growth is primarily to come from increasing the global activities of the group. Furthermore it is expected to have a high activity level within new areas. For instance the company DESMI Ocean Guard A/S working on the development of systems for ballast water treatment in co-operation with A.P. Moller-Maersk and Skjølstrup & Grønborg A/S.

We see increased interest in “green solutions” and our customers positively support the concepts within energy optimisation, says Henrik Mørkholt, who is optimistic even if it must be admitted that the strategy for the pump area is ambitious.

DESMI pumps and pump solutions are gaining a still bigger foothold in the business segments Marine & Offshore, Oil Spill, Industry, Utility and Defence & Fuel, which ensures growth in spite of the expected difficult market conditions.

We are of course as vulnerable as everyone else with regards to the state of the global market, but irrespective of the difficult market conditions we are focusing on winning market share. The target is to reach and exceed a turnover of one billion DKK and continuously to maintain reasonable earnings. We are however not pursuing a “Titanic strategy”, so we will adjust the time that it takes to reach the target in accordance with the market conditions in the coming years, states Henrik Sørensen.

The group CEO finally discloses that the turnover is expected to reach well over 710 million DKK in 2011, while it amounted to 622 million DKK in 2010. DESMI has more than 500 employees of which the majority works outside Denmark.

A month ago DESMI received the “Entrepreneur of the Year 2011” award in Denmark. Among the reasons for the choice of this year’s Danish entrepreneur was the fact that in spite of the high age DESMI has succeeded in maintaining an innovative approach and has understood to utilise the op-portunities on the global market. DESMI will defend the Danish colours when the best entrepreneurs of the world meet in Monaco in June 2012.