* Profit falls from 245 mln Sfr in 2007
* Hit by Q4 slump in demand
* No 2009 outlook, confirms mid-term targets

ZURICH, Feb 24 (Reuters) – Full-year net profit at Swiss car parts supplier and engineering group Georg Fischer <FIN.S> dropped to 69 million Swiss francs ($59 million), hit by a slump in demand in the fourth quarter.
Profit fell from 245 million francs the previous year and the group said on Tuesday it was unable to give any proper guidance for 2009 due to the uncertain economic situation but said it was sticking to its mid-term targets.
“The deterioration in external conditions in the course of 2008 was on a virtually unprecedented scale,” Fischer said in a statement.
“Starting in October our main market sector, the automotive industry, went into a swift decline owing to the global financial and economic crisis,” it added.
Fischer said last month it was cutting some 340 jobs, half of them in Switzerland, as it fights to maintain its profitability in adverse conditions. [ID:nLD695485]
($1=1.165 Swiss Francs)

« »