Sulzer's t roub les come h o m e to Roost Ueli Roost, Chairman of Sulzer has resigned from the Board of Sulzer Ltd. This follows his earlier resignation from Sulzer Medica Ltd. In a statement, Roost said: "I am being identified very strongly with the failed merger last autumn of Sulzer and Sulzer Medica due to shareholder resistance. For Sulzer I therefore represent an additional point of attack in the current takeover attempt. After careful consider- ation, I therefore concluded that my immediate resignation would best meet the interests of Sulzer."

Leonardo Vannotti takes over as Chairman of the Sulzer Ltd Board of Directors and Max Link moves up from Vice- Chairman to Board Chairman of the Sulzer Medica Ltd Board.

This news follows the rejection of the takeover approach by InCentive Capital AG in Feb- mary. Sulzer argued that the bid was too low and highlighted InCentive's lack of strategy. However, InCentive intends to publish its final bid on March 30 and Sulzer said that it will pub- lish its response in early April.

Vannotti has asked the share- holders to reject InCentive's bid saying: With the Sulzer Medica spin-off planned for this year, we shall be well on course for a successful future. In the interests of our shareholders, we must ensure at the coming Annual General Meeting that InCentive Capital AG does not control in it."

Should InCentive's bid suc- ceed, its approach with Sulzer's new found interest in its pump- ing business remains to be seen.

New agreement

ABS wins framework agreement with Southern Water ABS has won a new framework agreement with Southern Water for the supply of submersible pumps and associated services. This is the second Framework agreement to be awarded to ABS by Southern Water in recent years. This continues the trend mentioned in ABS's Annual Report 2000 in which sales to the largest ABS market segment, Water & Wastewater, have increased throughout the year

However, the Pulp and Paper industry slightly declined com- pared with 1999 and sales to the Construction Industry and Building Services markets im- proved due to the effect of the acquisition of the US company CH&E Pumps which produces diesel-driven dewatering pumps for the construction sector.

ABS is the major part of Cardo Pump which in tum is one of three business areas within Cardo AB, an industrial group listed on the Stockholm stock exchange. Cardo AB had a group turnover in 2000 of more than EUR 1,150 million.

ABS's Annual Report 2000 reported invoiced sales amounted

to EUR 300 million (280). After adjustment for the effects of ex- change rate movements this repre- sents an increase of three per cent. Operating earnings decreased to EUR 26 million (28), mainly as an effect of lower margins on products to the Pulp and Paper industry.

During the year 2000, ABS conti- nued the expansion of aftermarket activities with a new service con- cept. New service centres have been established and several acqui- sitions of local service companies were also made during the year.

In order to enhance its customer orientation further, ABS changed its sales organisation at the turn of the year 2000/2001 from having been geographically based to being based on market segments reflecting customers' applications and processes. Water and Waste- water, Industry and Building Services are to be represented by separate marketing organi- sations, creating even greater potential to focus on each group of customers.

On September 1 2000, Thomas Widstmnd took over as new head of the Cardo Pump business area.

Distribution

DuPont Dow Elastomers has signed a shared-site distribution agreement with DHL in order to expedite delivery of Karlrez perfluoroelastomer parts and Zalak high performances seals to customers throughout Europe. The agreement involved the setting up of a new DuPont Dow European centralised warehouse for Kalrez situated at DHL's European hub near Brussels Airport.

Kalrez perfluoroelastomer parts are critical components in industries where aggressive chemical and/or high temperatures are essential in the manufacturing process, including chemical and pharmaceutical processing, and semiconductor wafer fabrication. They with- stand attack by more than 1,600 chemicals, solvents and plasmas, and maintain sealing integrity even after long-term exposure to temperatures up to 316 degrees C.

In addition to the distribution deal, DuPont Dow Elastomers has established automated airwaybill linked invoice faxed to the customer the same night the shipment leaves the warehouse. It enables customers to pin-point the location of an order via e- mail anytime from despatch to delivery, and to confirm costs.

Major expansion

SumCom greets increased demand with expansion SumCom, has completed a multi-million dollar expansion of its manufacturing and head- quarters operations. Along with the expansion, the company is in the process of enhancing customer service, sales, R&D, engineering and renovating its existing facilities.

The company attributes the expansion to the increasing demand for its products. Sym- Corn designs, engineers and manufactures industrial and electronic controls under the brand name MotorSaver and PumpSaver.

The expansion includes the construction of a new 14,000 f t 2 facility that houses state-of- the-art computer controlled machinery; computer numeric cutting (CNC) manufacturing centres; equipment' modern data acquisition systems and other automation equipment. The facility is used for manufacturing, assembly, testing, warehousing and shipping.

The existing facility, used for management, accounting, sales, marketing, engineering, R&D, new product engineering and design, technical support and customer service, is being remodelled and revamped to expand them and make them more efficient.

Funding

BigMachines has secured an additional $29 million of funding from its investors. The company provides an eBusiness product that enables companies configure and sell complex products online. It is hoped that this second round of financing will enable the company to achieve long-term financial success without raising any further funding.

The company will use the capital to build a global sales organi- zation, support the rapid adoption of its products within the current customer base and to continue investing heavily in software development.

" - - • - 1 WORLD P U M P S April 2001 www,worldpumps,com