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2015 one of the best years in history for Schouw

09 Mar '16

3 min read

Nonwovens fabric producer Schouw & Co said, 2015 was one of the very best years in its almost 140 year history, as revenue and earnings of all its companies improved in 2015 relative to 2014.

As per a Schouw press release, the group's overall revenue expanded from DKK 11,784 million in 2014 to DKK 12,566 million in 2015.

“The improved 7 per cent revenue performance was posted despite several challenging factors like changing prices of raw materials, foreign exchange rates and volume sales,” the company explained.

EBIT for the year rose from DKK 708 million in 2014 to DKK 831 million in 2015, up 17 per cent, driven mainly by Fibertex Personal Care, but also contributions from Biomar, Fibertex Nonwovens and Hydra-Grene.

“Another subsidiary, Kramp and Xergi, which is recognised as a joint venture, also achieved expected earnings,” Schouw observed.

Cash flows from operations improved by more than DKK 500 million to DKK 1,171 million, mainly due to lower working capital, while reporting a free cash flow of DKK 602 million.

The Schouw board of directors has recommended a proposal to increase the dividend for 2015 by 25 per cent to DKK 10 per share.

During the reporting year, Biomar set up a joint venture in China, Fibertex Personal Care resolved investment in printing facilities in Malaysia and Fibertex Nonwovens acquired a company in Turkey.

“Our ROIC improved for the sixth consecutive year, reaching 18.3 per cent, excluding goodwill, and 15.1 per cent including goodwill,” the company stated.

For 2016, Schouw expects revenue to be around DKK 14.2 billion and EBIT in the range of DKK 760-850 million, which do not include the impact of the GPV acquisition.

President Jens Bjerg Sørensen said, “Our very solid performance comes on the back of the platform we have established over the past few years.”

“We are strongly committed to future-proofing our businesses by giving priority to development, innovation and long-term investment,” he also added.

“The last few months have been full of intense acquisition activity and we are very pleased with the additions of Specma and GPV to the Schouw family,” Sørensen informed.

“Over the past few years, we invested heavily in making our businesses both larger and stronger and it's now time to shift our focus to prioritising stronger businesses over larger ones,” he further added. (AR)

Fibre2Fashion News Desk – India