The Sulzer group of Winterthur says incoming orders for its core divisions in 2001 rose by 17 per cent to SFr1.921 billion ($1.15 billion).

In a statement released on Thursday, the company said this represented a seven per cent increase over the previous year when adjusted for acquisitions, divestitures and currency effects.

However, due to declining figures at divested operations - Infra, Textil and Burckhardt - orders were 22 per cent lower than the previous year, or one per cent higher after adjustment.

The company said that all four Sulzer core divisions attained their goals for 2001 with a double-digit increase in order intake.

Sulzer has undergone a wide-ranging transformation over recent months and has gone back to its roots, making its industrial and engineering competence the core of its business once again.

Eventful and demanding year

It described average growth of seven per cent after adjustments in core activities as "encouragingly high" for such an eventful and demanding year. This provided a stable basis for ongoing development in 2002, said the company.

However, Sulzer added that with widely varying developments in main markets and today's difficult global economy, the company faced a demanding year. Order intake is nonetheless expected to rise further.

Sulzer CEO Fred Kindle said he looked forward to the future with confidence.

"We have essentially completed our strategic re-focusing phase and the performance of our core divisions has improved markedly," he said.

"The Sulzer Corporation is now realigned and ready to grow again. The growth prospects in all our businesses are intact," he added.

The financial results for 2001 will be presented at the annual media conference on March 8.

swissinfo with agencies

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