#Textile chemistry
RadiciGroup reports 2011 results: consolidated sales of EUR 1,238 million
- CONSOLIDATED SALES REVENUE OF EUR 1,238 MILLION
- GROSS OPERATING MARGIN OF EUR 120 MILLION (10% of sales revenue)
- Decrease in net financial debt of EUR 69 MILLION
Increase in sales revenue, compared to the prior year, for each of the Group business areas:
+CHEMICALS:
+ 5%+PLASTICS:
+ 10%+SYNTHETIC FIBRES: + 7%
"All things considered, we are satisfied with our Group’s performance in 2011," stated Angelo Radici, chairman of RadiciGroup, "especially taking into account the unfavourable trend that hit all the major sectors of the world economy to a varying degree. The results achieved by our business areas were better than good, and I want to thank all the people who have worked to make this possible for our Group. The best performance (+10%) was achieved by our Plastics Business Area, which closed the year 2011 with sales revenue of EUR 259 million. Sales were also on the rise in our Chemicals Business Area, where sales revenue totalled EUR 491 million. What's more, Chemicals celebrated its 25th anniversary last year. Positive results were also reported by Synthetic Fibres, which generated sales revenue of EUR 612 million.
As in the preceding years, we focused on strengthening the vertical integration of our Group production chain: on the one hand we made new acquisitions, invested in plant technology and focused on improving customer service and quality and, on the other hand, we shut down or sold companies that did not fit well with our core business strategy. Here I'm referring to Deufil GmbH in Germany and Caucasian PET Co. in Georgia. Our total investments reached EUR 40 million and were mainly aimed at improving the efficiency and flexibility of our plants. For 2012, the Board of Directors has approved investments totalling EUR 25 million to date.
This is not the final amount, in that it may be revised upward if economic growth accelerates. We hope so, as investing in new projects is vital if we want our future outlook to stay positive. The present economic situation is far from easy to deal with and forces us to be extremely cautious."
"As forecasted, in 2011 we recorded more than positive results, despite the dip in the fourth quarter,” said Alessandro Manzoni, CFO of RadiciGroup. "We would like to point out that last year we achieved our goal of strengthening our financial position according to our three-year plan. Since inception at the end of 2008, our financial plan has led to a reduction in debt of EUR 200 million and an increase in sales of 30%. Among the many other satisfactory results are a net financial debt / net shareholders' equity ratio of 0.74 and a further reduction in net financial debt of EUR 69 million in 2011 alone. At year-end net financial debt was EUR 267 million, 57% of which was medium-long term, another reassuring element."
