Gurit has reported net sales of CHF 175.2 million for the first six months of 2017, a currency-adjusted decrease of -0.5% and -3.9% in reported Swiss francs over the previous year. Operating profit was CHF 21 million and the operating profit margin reached 12% of net sales for the first half-year 2017.
‘Sales-wise, Gurit met mixed market conditions across its target industries which led to a temporary dip in sales; and yet, the company was able to further increase its operating profitability by 11% year-on-year,’ the company said in a press release.
The Composite Materials business unit achieved net sales of CHF 129.7 million in the first half of 2017, down from CHF 136.0 million in the same period of 2016, a decrease of -1.8% on currency-adjusted basis and -4.6% in reported Swiss francs. Sales to the wind energy market dropped by -3.0% on a currency-adjusted basis to CHF 69.1 million in the first six months of 2017. According to Gurit, the decline mainly results from a weaker than expected demand situation in India which could not be fully compensated by the amount of newly installed capacity in other global wind energy regions. Revenues in other material markets (Marine, Industrial, Automotive Materials) decreased by -0.4% on a currency-adjusted basis to CHF 60.6 million in the first half of 2017 down from CHF 62.5 million, mainly due to the ‘continued hesitant order situation in the European and Asian marine leisure markets as well as the ongoing lack of large builds in the Middle Eastern construction industry due to the end customer credit situation’ Gurit said. Sales to the European Aerospace industry showed further growth. The Composite Components business unit reported net sales of CHF 9.8 million for the first half-year 2017, an increase of 14.8% on a currency-adjusted basis from CHF 9.4 million in the first six months of 2016. In Tooling, sales of wind turbine blade molds and related equipment in the first six months of 2017 reportedly came in well and above the company`s estimate at the beginning of the year. Revenues increased by 0.5% on a currency-adjusted basis to CHF 35.6 million compared to CHF 36.8 million in 2016.
Challenging market Despite the challenging market environment in the Composite Materials business, Gurit achieved an improved operating profit of CHF 21.2 million in the first six months of 2017. The operating profit margin for the first half-year 2017 rose to 12.1%. Net profit for the first half-year 2017 amounted to CHF 15.3 million, up from CHF 14.1 million. ‘Overall, management confirms to reach a low single-digit revenue growth for the full year 2017 under the assumption that the Indian wind energy market will return to growth in the fourth quarter of the year,’ the company said. ‘The wind energy industries in Europe and the Americas are anticipated to see a fair amount of newly installed capacity in the second half of 2017. Operating profit margin is expected to reach the upper end of the guided range of 8 to 10% of net sales, including an anticipated non-recurring one-time expense in the range of around 1% of annual operating profitability.’
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.