Schneider Electric reports strong full year organic growth at +8.3%

Jean-Pascal Tricoire, President and CEO, said: "In 2011, we delivered solid organic growth and higher earnings, despite a context of record raw material inflation, major supply chain disruptions, and a change of mix due to robust growth in solutions. Free cash flow reached all time high in the second half thanks to strict working capital control."

"2011 has been an active year of transformation and strategic deployment for the Group. We accelerated organic investments, growing both our presence in new economies to about 40% of sales and our solution business to 37%. We also made a number of strategic acquisitions. The integration of Telvent in our portfolio is a particularly important milestone for our development in the field of critical infrastructures and also a major step for our software capabilities.

We also ended our three-year company program "One" with success. One laid a very solid foundation for our future: One brand, One company for our customers and employees, One organization everywhere, and a far higher efficiency than in 2008.

For 2012, the uncertainty surrounding the global economy limits visibility. While we see continued strength in new economies and opportunities from a recovering North America, Western Europe is expected to weigh on growth. In this context and assuming no major change in economic conditions, the Group expects flat to slightly positive organic growth for sales and an adjusted EBITA margin between 14% and 15%."

Schneider Electric announced the fourth quarter sales and full year results for the period ending December 31, 2011:

Key figures (€ million)	Full Year 2010 Reported	Full Year 2010 Comparable²	Full Year 2011 Reported	% change  vs. Reported
Sales	19,580	20,228	22,387	+14%
Organic growth			+8.3%
EBITA³ before acquisition and integration costs	2,962	2,971	3,178	+7%
% of sales	15.1%	14.7%	14.2%
Net income (Group share)	1,720		1,820	+6%

¹ EBITA margin before acquisition and integration costs

² Comparable: including Areva Distribution in full year 2010 in the Infrastructure business

 ³ EBITA: EBIT before amortization and impairment of purchase accounting intangibles and impairment of goodwill