(pressebox) (Düsseldorf, 2011-02-15) Rheinmetall has surpassed its forecasts for the 2010 fiscal year. Provisional EBIT at Group level has set a new operating record of €297 million, well above the EBIT range most recently forecast for 2010 (€270 million to €280 million). The sales recorded for the fiscal year, which totaled almost €4 billion, were also above the forecast of €3.9 billion.

The Rheinmetall Group achieved sales of €3,989 million for the 2010 fiscal year, which represents growth of 17% compared with the previous year (€3,420 million).
The Automotive division, which increased its business volume by 30% year-on-year to €1,982 million (previous year: €1,522 million), made a significant contribution to this. The division thus exceeded the level of growth in global automobile production, which stood at 24% last year. The Defence division grew by 6% or €109 million in the same period, achieving sales of €2,007 million for the year under review.
Rheinmetall Defence's order backlog at the end of 2010 stood at €4,772 million and was thus up €182 million compared with the previous year.

Automotive has reported provisional EBIT of €81 million for 2010, leaving the previous year's negative earnings situation far behind. The result for 2010 already includes one-off costs for subsequent restructuring measures, additional expenditure for the expansion of the market presence in China and India as well as increased start-up costs for a large order.

The Defence division achieved provisional EBIT of €234 million in 2010. This exceeds the previous year's figure by 9% or €19 million. The EBIT margin increased to 11.6% (prior year: 11.3%).

Rheinmetall will publish the final figures for the 2010 fiscal year on March 23, 2011.