<FENIX> Jeseník presented the results of last year and innovations in the product range

At the press conference of the FENIX group Jeseník, which took place in September in Litoměřice and Terezín with the participation of the owner and director of the company, Ing. Cyril Svozil, and the head of domestic sales, Miroslav Petr, the company representatives presented the financial results, reference projects with electric heating, and product innovations.

fortifications of the city of Terezín - object Kavalír II

The official part took place in Litoměřice and, as is customary, the press conference was linked to the presentation of an interesting realization, where products from the companies' offerings were utilized. Following last year's Golden Lane at Prague Castle, this year it involved approximately 300 pieces of ECOSUN heating panels, placed in the historic part of the fortifications of the city of Terezín - object Kavalír II. The newly reconstructed spaces in this object will be used for a permanent exhibition after completion, which will include the history of life of the inhabitants of the fortress city, historical exhibitions, documentation of construction techniques, and fortress architecture. There will also be demonstrations of crafts or parts of military training. Bastion 2 and Kavalír 2 are part of the cultural monument of the Main Fortress Fortifications of Terezín.

At the beginning of the official part, Ing. Cyril Svozil presented the economic results, their structure, and the factors that have influenced and continue to influence the company's operations. The series of annual revenue growth, which has been ongoing since 2000, continued in 2011 - the revenue of the entire group for last year reached 1,128 million CZK, 90% of revenue was generated by exports, while the company earned 10% in the Czech market. More than 57% of revenue is generated by underfloor heating, represented by ECOFLOOR heating mats and ECOFILM foils. This heating is applied in all markets where the company operates and is a universal and global product. FENIX electric underfloor heating can be found in hotels, offices, museums, with a very strong segment representing low-energy family houses, where the demand for low-temperature large-area electric heating systems has significantly increased in recent years. The demand for all types of radiant heating is also growing, especially for ECOSUN panels, where revenues increased by more than 26% year-on-year in 2011. A quarter of FENIX group's revenue comes from regulation and control systems for electric heating.

One of the goals for last year was to stabilize the production capacities of the group, so the company invested approximately 40 million CZK in building new production and storage capacities at its plants in the Czech Republic and Great Britain. The Ceilhit plant in Barcelona was also moved to a new facility. The investment of 50 million CZK is spread over three years.

Last year, the company recorded significant sales growth in countries such as France, Russia, Germany, Austria, Finland, the Netherlands, and Romania; this year, problems are already emerging in the European Union markets. In France, Spain, and Great Britain, FENIX recorded significant declines this year, and in response to this development, the company is looking for other markets to offset these losses. The priority of foreign trade was to actively penetrate the US market, where the first deliveries were successfully started in May 2011. Already last year, the company's management anticipated a problematic development in some EU countries, so it continued to strengthen market diversification. The active trade policy aims at areas that are still uncovered or not completely covered, such as Turkey, the Balkans, peripheral countries of the former Soviet Union, the Middle East, and others. Deliveries have started to Jordan, Lebanon, and Israel, and a strong partner has been found in Kazakhstan.

Ing. Cyril Svozil presented the progressing regulation and limitation of the free market within the EU and the long-term deterioration of the economic situation in the EU as risks.

In presenting reference projects, Miroslav Petr introduced several family houses where FENIX has been monitoring heating expenses and overall electricity consumption for a long time. All presented data confirm that for family houses that are close to the NED boundary in their parameters, the price of energy itself is no longer the most important factor, but significant influences include acquisition costs, so-called maintenance costs, and the lifespan of the heating system and its components. The energy consumption for heating is already so low that, for example, in the case of heat pumps, although they can produce heat at the lowest cost, the payback period is longer than the life of the device, making it disadvantageous.

A key factor for savings is also the good controllability of electric heating. Therefore, the company's management pays great attention to the development of new products in this area. FENIX is also successful here; for example, the joint development of the new FENIX TFT touch thermostat has been successfully completed, and it is already being sold in the Czech Republic.