Pfleiderer's 2Q revenue rose by 7.3% to Euro 381.4 million

Aug 19, 2010. /Lesprom Network/. Pfleiderer's 2Q revenue rose by 7.3% to Euro 381.4 million from the 1Q to the 2Q. Revenue posted for the first half of this year of Euro 737 million is 6.4% higher than in the same period of 2009. Half of this increase resulted from exchange-rate effects and the other half was caused by increased unit sales and higher prices, the company said in a statement received by Lesprom Network. Due to the increase in material expenses in relation to revenue by 5.2 percentage points to 56.8%, first-half gross profit decreased from Euro 181.7 million to Euro 157.8 million. Compared with the first half of last year, the gross margin fell to 21.4%. Comparing the 2Q 2010 with the 1Q, however, Pfleiderer improved its gross margin by one percentage point, confirming the positive trend. Other operating income of Euro 6.3 million includes insurance compensation, share-price gains and the reversal of impairments of trade receivables. EBITDA for the first half of 2010 decreased to Euro 53.7 million, from Euro 79.1 million for the first half of last year. The EBITDA margin for the reporting period was thus 7.2%, compared with 11.4% a year ago. Positive exchange-rate effects, in particular relating to the Polish zloty and the Canadian dollar, accounted for Euro 4.1 million of EBITDA. EBIT of minus Euro 6.5 million was lower than the prior-year figure (Euro 22.6 million). Depreciation and amortization amounted to Euro 60.2 million (H1 2009: Euro 56.5 million). The comparison of 2Q results is much more positive and provides more evidence of the generally positive trend. In the 2Q 2010, the Pfleiderer Group achieved a strong 16.1% increase in EBITDA to Euro 31.5 million, compared with Euro 26.4 million in the prior-year quarter. 2Q EBIT of minus Euro 0.4 million is the same as the prior-year level. The result of continuing operations before taxes amounts to a loss of Euro 21 million, compared with a loss of Euro 3.7 million for the first half of last year. In the first half of the year, a deferred tax asset was recognized, which led to an overall tax benefit of Euro 3.1 million. Due to payments of taxes for prior periods, discontinued operations contributed a loss of Euro 1 million to the overall loss for the period of Euro 18.9 million. “In all our markets, except for the laminate business in North America, we can see an upward trend. The continuation of this positive development should indicate that we have broken the downward trend. This is the result of the joint efforts of our entire staff, to whom I am very grateful. As previously announced, our prime goal now is to further improve our gross margin and reduce our debt substantially by Euro 350 million in the coming years. In order to compensate for the high raw material costs, we will continue working to improve our cost structures and increase our production efficiency. There is still some work ahead of us in this regard,” commented Hans H. Overdiek, Chairman of the Executive Board (CEO) of Pfleiderer AG. Pfleiderer Group manufactures engineered wood, surface finished products and laminate flooring.