The CPH Group achieved growth in all three of its business divisions in 2017, and raised its annual net sales 8% to CHF 469.8 million ($493 million), as the company said in the press release received by Lesprom Network.
The Paper Division raised its volumes of publication paper sales 8% to 553,600 tonnes, and increased its net sales for the year by 7.3% to CHF 264.1 million ($277 million). The sizeable rises in recovered paper prices and (to a lesser extent) energy costs were only partially offset by further efficiency enhancements, however, and the division posted a negative EBIT result.
Perlen Papier took over the recovered paper activities of Papierfabrik Utzenstorf on 1 January 2018, and transferred these to the newly-founded APS Altpapier Service Schweiz AG. As a result, the division can now meet most of its recovered paper needs from Swiss sources, and the shorter transport distances will have a positive impact on both its procurement costs and its ecological performance.
While Europe’s pharmaceuticals markets showed only modest growth in 2017, the Packaging Division raised its net sales 9.2% to CHF 130.2 million ($137 million). It also increased its market share, thanks to its consistent focus on high-barrier blister films. Production capacities at the division’s European operations were very well utilized.
Despite higher raw materials prices for ethylene and expenditure on the new plant in China, the division posted a further improvement on the prior year’s record EBIT result.
CPH is an internationally active and diversified industrial group which is headquartered in Switzerland. The CPH Group develops, manufactures and distributes chemical products, woodbased paper and pharmaceutical packaging films.