Fibertex generates revenue of DKK 1,650 mn in 2010

11 Mar '11

4 min read

Fibertex reported an overall revenue improvement of 22% and EBIT of DKK 144 million, performing better than the most recent guidance. The figure consists of a DKK 161 million EBIT profit in Fibertex Personal Care and a DKK 17 million EBIT loss in Fibertex Nonwovens.

Financial performance
Fibertex generated revenue of DKK 1,650 million in 2010, compared with DKK 1,350 million in 2009. The improvement was driven by an increase in volume sales by Fibertex Personal Care, with Fibertex Nonwovens reporting volumes in line with last year.

Fibertex Personal Care has not been notably affected by the general economic downturn. Rather, with its entire production output consistently being sold out all through the year, the division was able to compensate for the rising raw materials prices through the structure of its sales contracts.

The activities in Fibertex Nonwovens are more cyclical, as some markets recorded decent growth rates while others suffered periods of sluggish demand. The traditional industry markets stabilised during the year, but sales of geotextiles for infrastructure projects, for example, were affected by poor weather conditions in Europe, especially in the first quarter. In addition, the markets were affected throughout the year by surging raw materials prices, which Nonwowens was only able to find partial compensation for though price increases at a certain time lag. EBIT improved from DKK 117 million in 2009 to DKK 144 million in 2010, which was better than the most recent guidance. The improvement derived from the positive performance by Fibertex Personal Care.

Fibertex increased its working capital tie-up to DKK 385 million at December 31, 2010 from DKK 276 million last year. Net interest- bearing debt increased to DKK 779 million at December 31, 2010 from DKK 714 million last year. Included in this amount was DKK 30 million in dividends distributed by Fibertex to Schouw & Co. in 2010.

Business Development
Fibertex Personal Care has production facilities in Denmark and Malaysia and is well-renowned for its quality and innovation in both Europe and Asia. Revenue from specialty products improved in 2010, including from supersoft products, products with high performance leakage barriers, as well as print products that Fibertex can deliver through its partly-owned business Innowo Print in Germany.

Fibertex Personal Care has begun to expand capacity in Malaysia. Additional capacity was installed in 2010 through the expansion of an existing line, and Fibertex approved the construction construction of a whole new high-capacity line that is scheduled for production start-up in the fourth quarter of 2011.

At the beginning of 2010, Fibertex Nonwovens had production facilities in Denmark and the Czech Republic. Early in the year, the division also established a factory in South Africa in cooperation with the Industrialisation Fund for Developing Countries (IFU)and local business partners for the purpose of manufacturing and selling needlepunched products, mainly geotextiles but also products for South Africa's growing auto industry. The South African unit is recognised in the financial statements under associates.

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