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Minority interests and joint ventures

The Freudenberg Group
Report of the Board of Partners
Foreword of the Management Board
Management Report of the Freudenberg Group
Global economic situation
Products and markets
Consolidated sales
The consolidated group
Minority interests and joint ventures
Financing and consolidated profit
Cash flow from investing activities and personnel expenses
Risk management
Prospects for 2004
Review of the Operations of the Business Groups and Divisions
People and Responsibility
Innovation
Consolidated Financial Statements
Major Group Companies and Shareholdings
Lists of figures and abbreviations
Imprint

Freudenberg holds a minority interest, either direct or via subsidiaries, in several companies, most of which are consolidated under the equity method. These companies reported sales of 2,514 million Euro, 6.5 percent down on the previous year. The decline is chiefly due to exchange rate effects and is also affected by the disposal of the remaining shares in Technischer Handel Freudenberg. The most important minority shareholdings held by Freudenberg concern the Japanese company NOK Corporation (23 percent) and Japan Vilene Company Ltd. (22 percent), both registered in Tokyo.

NOK Corporation manufactures seals and vibration control technology products, flexible circuit boards, lubricants and specialty chemicals. The company operates 40 sites worldwide and has a workforce of 16,178 (NOK Group), of which 3,458 are on the payroll at NOK Corporation. Sales by NOK Corporation in 2003 totaled 1,973 million Euro (NOK Group: 2,291 million Euro). Compared with the previous year, this represents a decline of 2.2 percent: however, if the changes in exchange rate parity are taken into consideration, sales rose by 9.1 percent.

Japan Vilene Company Ltd. (JVC) manufactures nonwovens for the clothing, automotive and electrical industries as well as medical applications, consumer goods and the agricultural sector. The company has production facilities in Japan, China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Korea and the USA. The total workforce is 926. Sales in 2003 fell by 11 percent
(0.2 percent adjusted for exchange rate effects) to 363 million Euro.

The proven partnership between Freudenberg and these two Japanese companies already spans more than 40 years. During the course of this long-standing cooperation, numerous joint activities have been launched in the USA, Asia and Europe.