02.1
Operations and Business Environment
THE MANAGEMENT’S GENERAL ASSESSMENT OF BUSINESS PERFORMANCE
2008 was an exceptionally successful year for our company. Revenue and earnings climbed to record levels. We achieved, and in same cases surpassed, all our main objectives set at the beginning of the year.
Our company experienced stronger growth than the dialysis industry as a whole. As a result, we managed to increase our share of the market. We maintained our position as market leaders in North America, our biggest market by far. We also recorded significant revenue growth in Europe, Latin America and Asia, reinforcing our market position in these regions.
Fresenius Medical Care’s profitability continued to increase in the year under review. There were improvements in all relevant key figures. This has to be seen in conjunction with our ongoing high investment in our company: we maintained existing clinics, equipped new ones and expanded production capacities. In addition, important cooperative ventures in the field of intravenous iron preparations, were an important milestone for our dialysis drug strategy.
| Table 02.1.10 | OBJECTIVES AND RESULTS FOR 2008 |
| Results 2008 | Objectives 2008 reached | Objective | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue |
9 % to $10.6 bil. |
7 % to > $ 10.4 bil. |
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| Net income | 14 % to $818 mil. |
12 % – 15 % to $ 805 – 825 mil. |
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| Dividend |
7 % per ordinary share to €0.58 1 |
Continuous increase |
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| Capital expenditures | $ 673 mil. |
$ 650 – 750 mil. |
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| Acquisitions | $ 215 mil. |
$ 150 – 250 mil. |
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| Tax rate |
36.6 % |
38 % – 39 % |
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| Debt / EBITDA ratio | 2.69 |
< 2.8 |
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| Number of employees 2 |
64,666 |
More than 65,000 |
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| Research and development expenditures | $ 80 mil. |
~ $ 80 mil. |
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| Product innovations | e.g. 5008S dialysis machine |
Further expansion of product and service range |
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| 1 Proposal for approval at the Annual General Meeting on May 7, 2009. 2 Full-time equivalents |
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