Our financial strength has also helped us. We were able to call on £2 to £2.4 billion in liquidity in the economic crisis, when other suppliers stumbled.
So our advanced state-of-the-art technology and our long-term financial strength is what has got us through the recession.
Q.You say you are expecting significant growth in 2010 – can you elaborate?
A.We are talking double digit growth, both in the UK and globally. In the UK, we’ve increased sales by more than 30 per cent in the first four months of 2010 – we expect 10 per cent growth overall this year.
Q. Industrial technology didn’t perform well for you last year, but how have your wind industry products performed?
A.Our industrial technology division started to recover at end of February/March. Hydraulics has been badly hit, but wind has held up well. We are the biggest independent supplier in Europe for gearboxes for wind turbines, supplying many companies including Vestas. We offer advanced technologies in this area and wind turbines will be an increasingly important source of
renewable energy going forward.
Q.What investments have you been making in R&D in renewable energy technologies and how much do you expect to spend in 2010 on R&D?
A. The total investment we will make in R&D this year is seven to eight per cent of sales. Last year it was slightly more because of the drop in sales – £38.2 billion from £45.1 billion in 2008. We kept up investment in R&D because we wanted to strengthen our
innovation abilities.
In the UK, Worcester Bosch is the leading supplier of
energy efficient boilers and ground source heat pumps.
We also support our original equipment manufacturers, such as Jaguar and Ford with application engineers.
Another R&D business in the UK is our unit for the production of garden tools in Stowmarket. The main products are lawnmowers and hedge cutters and we’ve been working on lithium-ion battery-driven mowers and hedge cutters. These are 95 per cent more energy efficient compared to gasoline powered ones.
Q. In terms of sales, environmental technologies accounted for a third of your sales worldwide last year? What has sold best for you and why?
A.
Automotive is a good example. Our 'start-stop’ system – which stops the engine at a red light for example – will sell two million units this year. The system is able to save eight per cent of fuel in the town. It is an enormously successful product.
Consumer goods and building technologies sales reached £739 million in 2009 in the UK..
Q. How important has the boiler scrappage scheme been for Bosch and what would you like to see going forward in terms of support from the Government?
A.It has been a very, very good incentive – it was very intensive and everything has sold out already and there are still 4.5 million old boilers in the market. This just shows what could be done in this country and we are confident that with or without the scrappage scheme we will sell boilers.
Q. How confident are you of a green recovery in the UK given the public deficit and the Government’s approach to dealing with it?
A. I am confident – the main focus is carbon reduction and other energy savings of households. It is partly being driven by the European Union, although no one will say it here, but it is the case. No one can disconnect [us from this agenda] and it is a win/win situation for consumers and producers.
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