For this positive development the growth of 4.6% in paper sales was an important contributor, boosted by higher sales growth of complementary business which increased 13.6% and complemented by the effect resulting from the increase in the Group's perimeter. On a proforma comparison, the growth in paper business is 1.1% and 3.2% in complementary businesses.
1Q net income increased by 33% to Euro 1.5 million
In the 1Q 2014, as the result of a constant policy of costs control, operating costs have reduced Euro 0.7 million (-2.2%) in relation to the same period in 2013, on a pro forma basis. This decrease is mainly due to the reduction of administrative costs and personnel costs. Provisions for receivables registered a decrease of 12% ( - Euro 0.1 million) compared with the same period of the previous year, representing 0.5% of sales. This positive development reflects the strict credit risk management of customers complemented by the credit insurance.
Until March, the Re-EBITDA was Euro 8.4 million, representing 3.5% of sales, an increase of 26.5 % (Euro 1.8 million), supported by the the paper and complementary businesses sales increase, strict control on operating costs and continued rigor in credit risk management.
Operational results (EBIT) grew by 28.7%, amounting to Euro 6.6 million, representing 2.7% of sales.
"During the first quarter of 2014 we continued to see a strong pressure at the level of the average sales prices resulting from existing market imbalances between the demand and supply and the excess of capacity at the distribution level. Despite this difficult context, Inapa maintained the margin defense strategy implemented last year leading to an overall improvement of the Group profitability, both through margin support, and by improving the mix of sales," said José Félix Morgado, CEO.