Semperit sees “clear progress” with improved results

Vienna – Austrian rubber engineering group Semperit AG has reported improved results for the first nine months of 2018, with earnings (EBITDA adjusted for negative one-off effects), up 39.1% year-on-year at €45.8 million.

Revenues were stable at €670 million, the Vienna-based company added in a 21 Nov financial statement.

“We see clear progress, which manifests itself particularly in the industrial sector,” said Martin Fuellenbach, chairman of Semperit AG Holding.

The improvement in operating results, said Fuellenbach, was due to a restructuring programme launched at the start of the year.

The company has identified “more than 600 initiatives”, which could contribute significantly to improving operating results, the chairman added.

Semperit has also made 'considerable' changes in its personnel, restructuring the first and second management levels in its Sempertrans segment, Fuellenbach added.

During the nine-month period, the industrial sector, which includes the Sempertrans conveyor belt manufacturing, Semperform construction materials and Semperflex hose production, reported 5.6% higher sales at €432.7 million.

Segment earnings soared 79.9% to €55.8 million during the period.

Sempertrans achieved its “best quarterly results in two years,” the Austrian company noted. This was despite lower sales, due in part. to plant closures in China and France.

Raw materials and financial markets, however, faced increasing uncertainties as a result of the escalating trade war between the US and China and rising inflation and currency devaluations in some emerging economies.

“Over the last few months, increased competition was observed for some of the raw materials,” Semperit added.

Semperit has been facing a “temporarily limited availability” of some raw materials, including synthetic latex (nitrile), carbon black and EPDM rubbers,” the company explained to ERJ.