SNR Brazil Boosts Sales and Market Share

SNR Rolamentos do Brasil (Brazil, a wholly-owned subsidiary of SNR Group S.A., France, itself a wholly-owned subsidiary of Renault S.A., France), reported sharply improved sales for its second full year in business in Brazil. Sales for fiscal 2003 were up 40% from 2002, to R$25 million (USD $8.4 million). Opened at the end of 2001, SNR do Brasil is the company's sixth manufacturing facility, and its only wholly-owned plant outside the Annecy area of France. SNR is a minority equity partner in Italian spherical bearingmaker Industria Cusinetti and recently revealed an effort to produce standard gearbox bearings in Romania. Occupying 123 acres near Curitaba, SNR do Brasil's USD $10+ million plant produces ball bearings and tapered roller bearings in sizes specifically targeted to automotive wheel bearing applications. SNR said it was, "...built to accompany the development of auto manufacturers in the Mercosur market." Although a small part of SNR Group's overall operation --- accounting for just 2% of corporate sales -- Brazil is an important cornerstone of the Mercosur marketplace. Brazil hosts factories run by all of the world's largest automakers. Similarly, a large proportion of South America's industrial production originates in Brazil. Since it launched in 2001, SNR do Brasil has seen its share of the automotive OEM market climb from 2% to over 8%, heading toward an ambitious target of 20% by 2007. In its home market of France, SNR has a 20% automotive market share, selling over 100 million bearings per year and reflecting its ownership by Renault S.A. Reportedly producing approximately 6,000 finished bearings per day, 65% of SNR do Brasil's output is going into the domestic automotive industry. The remaining 35% is exported back to France. Only 4% of the Brazilian product line needs to be imported from France. Founded in 1946 by consolidating five bearing factories around Annecy, France, SNR currently employs 3,700 people, down from 4,700 in 1999. The company manufactures instrument bearings, ABS wheel-speed sensor bearings, high-resolution sensor line encoder bearings, and LubSolid bearings. The company's key markets are automotive, industrial, aerospace and rail. SNR's worldwide sales in 2002 were €455 million, 55% of it in France. SNR has been battling a decline, from 1999's nearly €500 in sales to 2001's €476 million, to 2002's €455 million.