Gurit reports net sales of CHF 182 million for the first half of 2016, a currency-adjusted growth of 3% over the previous year. Operating profit improved by 21% compared to CHF 15.8 million in the first half of 2015.
The Composite Materials business unit achieved net sales of CHF 136.0 million in the first half of 2016, a decrease of -0.6% on currency-adjusted basis and -0.4% in reported Swiss francs. Wind energy material demand saw a sales contraction of -3.1% on currency-adjusted basis and -2.7% in reported Swiss francs. Despite growth in most other global wind energy regions, the anticipated weaker demand in the Chinese wind energy industry of some 15% compared to the record year 2015 had its overall negative impact on the Company due to its high importance for Gurit. Sales to other material markets (marine, aerospace, industrial, automotive materials, and ballistics) increased by 2.4% to CHF 62.5 million in the first half of 2016.
The Composite Components business unit (car parts, bus components, structural engineering) reported sales of CHF 9.4 million for the first half-year 2016 as compared to CHF 14.9 million in the first six months of 2015. In Tooling, sales of wind turbine blade moulds and related equipment in the first six months of 2016 increased by 44.3% to CHF 36.8 million (CHF 26.3 million in the first half of 2015) on a currency-adjusted basis and +40.2% in reported Swiss francs. International customer demand for mould systems was much stronger than anticipated in the first six months of 2016, and Chinese mould demand for longer blades held up stronger than expected, as well. The company said that it planned to deliver single-digit revenue growth for the full year 2016.
This story is reprinted from material from Gurit, with editorial changes made by Materials Today. The views expressed in this article do not necessarily represent those of Elsevier.