Earnings (EBITDA) increased 83.3% year-on-year to €15.8 million, while the EBITDA margin increased from 4.2% to 7.1% in the first quarter of 2018.
At €220.9 million, however total revenue in the first quarter was 3.7% below the previous year’s value, the Austrian group reported 25 May.
Chairman Martin Füllenbach did not get carried away by the jump in earnings: cautioning that Semperit remained “in a difficult situation,”
“One successful quarter is not a successful turnaround,” added Füllenbach, who nevertheless believes that group-wide restructuring and transformation efforts are gaining traction.
Semperit's statement, though, noted that increasing inflation and “massive” currency devaluations in some large emerging economies were impacting raw materials and finance markets.