Sales & employees

Our core business divisions are Orthobionic® and Bionicmobility®.

In 2006, the Orthobionic® division increased its sales by € 20.7 million, or 6.6%, to € 344.4 million. Growth in the Orthobionic® division was driven by arm and leg prosthetics, with respective growth rates of 9.8% and 8.0%. Sales in the Bionicmobility® division fell by € 1.8 million to € 92.5 million. This drop in revenue spread across all business segments. Wheelchair sales were down € 0.3 million from last year. Equipment rental figures for continuous passive motion therapy fell € 0.6 million below 2005 levels.

This varied growth has resulted in a shift in shares in overall revenue among the divisions. The Orthobionic® division increased its share by 2.5% to 77.0%. By contrast, the Bionicmobility® division’s share fell by one percentage point to 20.7%. Discontinued operations fell to 2.3%. In 2006, discontinued operations consisted of the business activities of the Endres sales organizations in Germany and the UK.

We experienced varied growth in our markets. In Western Europe and the Asia/Pacific region, growth was down from previous years. In the Americas, we increased our revenues by 10.8%. We achieved our highest rates of growth in the EEMEA region. With a 24.7% hike in growth compared to the previous year, we far exceeded our expectations for this region.

As a consequence of these varied rates of growth, the Americas and EEMEA experienced above-average growth, and the share of sales from other regions has fallen correspondingly. We achieved about 50% of our growth in Western Europe, while 30% of our customer sales come from the Americas and 17% of our customers come from EEMEA und Asia/Pacific, our regions of highest growth.

A steady increase in revenue and earnings must always be accompanied by a corresponding expansion of the workforce.

In 2006, 154 new fulltime jobs were created in the Otto Bock HealthCare Group. At the end of 2006, 3,739 people were employed in the Group worldwide. This represents an increase of 4.1% compared to the previous year. In the Western Europe region, the number of fulltime employees increased by 79. This increase was driven by our development and production center in Austria, where 54 new employees were hired during the 2006 financial year. Twenty-five new positions were created in the EEMEA region, representing a 21.7% increase. New jobs were created in all subsidiaries in this region. These new jobs reflect the significant growth in this region.

Thirteen new jobs were added in the Americas. This 1.7% increase is considerably lower than the growth in sales and earnings in this region. The Asia/Pacific region added 37 new jobs (a 10.8% increase) and now has 380 employees. With exception of our subsidiary in Korea, all of our branches have boosted their employee numbers. China created the largest number of jobs in the region by adding 20 new positions in sales, services and administration.