Gurit says that it achieved net sales of CHF 272.8 million for the first nine months of 2016. This represents a currency-adjusted increase of 2.9% over net sales of CHF 269.2 million for the first nine months of 2015. Composite Materials reported net sales of CHF 205.2 million for the first nine months of 2016. The decrease in reported Swiss francs compared with net sales of CHF 205.3 million for the first nine months of 2015 is mainly attributable to a weaker demand in the Chinese wind energy industry compared to the record year of 2015. Net sales to the wind energy industry totalled CHF 112.6 million, representing a decrease of -3.2% in reported Swiss francs and -2.7% on a currency-adjusted base compared with net sales of 116.3 million in the nine-month period of 2015. Sales performance in the other material markets saw double digit percentage net sales growth in Aerospace, Industrial and Automotive materials while Marine still faced a decline in sales due to weaker boat building mainly in Europe compared to 2015. In total, net sales to other material markets increased by 4% in reported Swiss francs (currency adjusted: + 4.8%) to CHF 92.6 million in the first nine months of 2016 compared with net sales of CHF 89 million in the first nine months of 2015. Composite Components (automotive components, bus parts, and composite engineering) reported net sales of CHF 12.8 million for the first nine months of 2016 as compared with net sales of CHF 20.8 million in the first nine months of 2015. The decrease results from the known contract expirations over the course of last year. The business unit was however able to secure a first new major order in 2015 already and is positive to win more projects as the market demand is now stronger than in 2015. Tooling further increased sales to CHF 54.8 million for the first nine months of 2016 backed by strong global demand. This represents an increase of 27.2% in reported Swiss francs and a currency-adjusted rise of 31.8% compared with sales of CHF 43.1 million for the first nine months of 2015.
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.