Antalis’ 1Q 2018 business was negatively affected by a number of working days that was 2% less than in Q1 2017 and by the unfavourable forex impact (mainly attributable to sterling and the Swiss franc) for an amount of Euro 11 million. Consequently, 1Q 2018 sales declined by 3.6% year-on-year to Euro 590 million, as the company said in the press release received by Lesprom Network.
In a context of strong upward pressure on paper prices driven by continued increases in pulp prices for producers, Antalis delivered a gross margin of Euro 144 million, down 4.5% on 1Q 2017. The gross margin rate came in at 24.4% (down 0.2 points).
EBITDA for the quarter declined by 11.1% to Euro 19 million. Antalis benefited from the positive impact of lower overheads driven by greater flexibility in the supply chain, which partially offset declining volumes of Papers and the negative forex impact (mainly attributable to the Swiss franc). EBITDA margin declined by 0.2 points to 3.3%.
Current operating income for the 1Q was Euro 14 million compared to Euro 19 million in 1Q 2017 (Euro 16 million excluding the Euro 2.3 million gain arising on a change to a Swiss pension plan). Current operating margin represented 2.3% of sales (down 0.7 points).
Antalis is the leader in B2B distribution of Papers (number 1 worldwide outside the United States) and industrial Packaging, and number two in the distribution of Visual Communication media in Europe.