Zeiss reports record results

17 Jun 2002

German optics giant Carl Zeiss reports record earnings and plans to spin off its ophthalmology business.

The Carl Zeiss Group has recorded its best-ever financial results, despite the current economic slowdown. The German company, which is synonymous with high-quality optics, saw its sales increase 3% year-on-year to EURO 2.1 billion and its net profit double to EURO 110 million.

Dieter Kurz, the company's president and chief executive officer, said: "We have concluded a very successful fiscal year. All groups saw an increase in business. Despite the difficult conditions confronting us, Carl Zeiss is well poised to rise to the challenges of the future."

Zeiss's microscopy division, once dubbed the company's "problem child", saw the biggest growth, with sales rising 17% to EURO 271 million on the back of demand from pharmaceutical and genetic research.

The company is now planning to merge its ophthalmology business unit with fellow German company Asclepion-Meditec, which is based in Jena.

Subject to agreement from shareholders and antitrust authorities, the new company will be called Carl Zeiss-Meditec and be listed on Frankfurt's Neuer Markt stock exchange.

The two companies claim that their products will be ideally matched. Asclepion-Meditec is a major European supplier of laser refractive surgery systems, while the Zeiss unit is focused on diagnostic systems including an optical coherence tomography scanner for detecting retinal disease.

The merger will open up the US ophthalmology market for Asclepion's products, since Carl Zeiss has a strong US presence. The new company will have around 750 employees.