Sioen Industries reports total turnover gains 14.5 % to €78m
02 Feb '06
4 min read
- At the weaving mills too, further investments were made in new looms (both air and rapier looms), enabling the business to pursue its focus on niche markets (airbag fabric, fabric for sailing ships, filter fabric, etc.).
- After a period of intensive research and development, the transfer coating department has successfully entered a number of new markets (including carpet foam, ski bags and industrial cling films).
- The open-structure fabrics product line (reinforcing netting, geotextiles, windbreak netting, advertising banners, etc.), based on the online coating technique, continues togrow very strongly (it has increased fourfold since 1999). In 2005, the main area ofinvestment was extra capacity and automation.
- The more traditional product lines (truck and sign (advertising banners)) faced a slight temporary decrease in their level of activity last year compared with 2004, which was an exceptional year.
- The industrial foils produced by the calendering technique (foils for dashboards, door panels, sun shades, wall coverings, etc.) are experiencing steady growth.
The Coating division's operational cash flow (EBITDA) over the past year will come out at around 15% of turnover.
The record heights reached by oil prices and the uncertainty about economic development in a number of countries ensure that the entire sector is still contending with increases in the prices of the main raw materials (polyester granulates, PVC powders, plasticisers, technical bulking agents, pigments, etc.). Polymers in particular - raw materials derived from petroleum – form the bulk of the purchased raw materials.
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