Management Report Operations and Business Environment Overall Business Development 
Städtische Kliniken Krefeld was consolidated in the balance sheet as of December 31, 2007. Fresenius Kabi acquired Nestlé’s enteral nutrition business in France (Novartis Nutrition S.A.S.) and Spain (Nestlé España) in 2007. The perfusion business of the subsidiary Fresenius Medical Care Extracorporeal Alliance and the engineering companies Pharmaplan and Pharmatec were divested. However, the impact of these acquisitions and divestitures in the Group balance sheet as of December 31, 2007, was not significant.
The Management Board’s assessment of the business results
The Management Board is of the opinion that the economic development of the Fresenius Group in 2007 was again excellent – with sales, earnings and margin improvements in all business segments. The two business segments Fresenius Medical Care and Fresenius Kabi profited from the continued strong demand for their products and services and generally outperformed the market. This was reflected in sustained strong organic growth and higher profitability. Fresenius Helios also achieved very good organic growth and further improved its operating margin. As expected, Fresenius Vamed, was able to report good sales and earnings growth in 2007.
Comparison of the actual business results with the forecasts
As the summary below shows, all the targets set by Fresenius for 2007 were achieved or exceeded.
Based on the excellent operating performance in the first three quarters, at the end of October 2007 Fresenius again raised its forecasts for sales and net income. With sales growth of 10 % in constant currency, Fresenius fully achieved its forecast of a 9 to 10 % increase. The target of over 25 % for net income in constant currency was also fully achieved with growth of 28 %. This was mainly attributable to the even better than expected performance of Fresenius Medical Care and Fresenius Helios. The net debt/EBITDA ratio was below the target range of 2.8 to 3.0, and was 2.6 as of December 31, 2007. Fresenius invested € 705 million in property, plant and equipment and in intangibles in 2007. That is slightly above the projected € 600 to 700 million.
| Group | Targets for 2007 announced in February 2007 |
Raised target announced in August 2007 |
Raised target announced in October 2007 |
Achieved in 2007 |
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| Sales (growth, in constant currency) |
8 to 10 % | 9 to 10 % | 10% | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Net income (growth, in constant currency) |
20 to 25 % | ~ 25 % | more than 25 % | 28% | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Capital expenditure | € 600 to 700 million | € 705 million | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Net debt/EBITDA | 2.8 to 3.0 | 2.6 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
