Mar 23, 2012. /Lesprom Network/. The Lenzing Group continued its dynamic growth path of previous years by posting record results in 2011. Despite a significant weakening of the global fiber market in the second half of 2011, Lenzing once again achieved double-digit growth rates in sales and earnings, and surpassed the threshold of Euro 2 billion in consolidated sales for the first time in the company’s history. Operating margins also improved again from the already high level achieved in 2010 and set a new, absolute record, as the company said in a press release received by Lesprom Network. Consolidated sales in the reporting year 2011 rose by 21.2% to Euro 2.14 billion, up from Euro 1.77 billion in the prior year. This dynamic sales growth can be attributed to higher average selling prices in its core fiber business, higher fiber shipment volumes, the first-time full-year consolidation of the pulp plant Biocel Paskov acquired in May 2010 as well as higher sales in all other business areas. Consolidated EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization) amounted to Euro 480.3 million, a rise of 45.3% from the comparable figure of Euro 330.6 million in the previous year. Earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) climbed by 56.9% to Euro 364.0 million (2010: Euro 231.9 million). The EBITDA and EBIT margins reached an all-time high in 2011 at 22.4% (2010: 18.7%) and 17.0% (2010: 13.1%) respectively. “Our dynamic growth path and specialty strategy led by the fibers Lenzing Modal® and TENCEL® once again paid off in 2011. Whereas sales with standard viscose fibers increased by close to 20% year-on-year, we sold some 30% more TENCEL® fibers and close to 40% more Lenzing Modal® fibers than in the prior year”, explains Lenzing Chief Executive Officer Peter Untersperger. The large-scale market success of these two specialty fibers enabled Lenzing to partially detach itself from the volatile market trends of 2011, according to CEO Untersperger. According to preliminary estimates, global fiber production rose by 4.1% to a new record level of 79.1 million tons in 2011. The production of man-made cellulose fibers also reached an all-time high of 4.6 million tons, up 4.2% from 2010. The business development of the Segment Fibers in 2011 was characterized by strong demand for Lenzing fibers, which was fueled even more by record cotton prices in the first half of the year. The market for standard textile viscose fibers significantly cooled off in the second half of 2011, which did not impact fiber shipment volumes but affected selling prices. The specialty fibers Lenzing Modal® and TENCEL® as well as the nonwovens sector were hardly impacted by this development. Throughout the year Lenzing succeeded in raising average prices for all Lenzing fibers by close to 17% compared to the previous year, to Euro 2.22 per kilogram. “All our fiber production facilities were running at full capacity throughout the entire year. The additional fiber volumes generated in the course of the year by the second expansion stage of the plant in Nanjing (China), the capacity expansion for Lenzing Modal® fibers produced at the Lenzing site and TENCEL® fibers manufactured at the Heiligenkreuz (Burgenland) facility were very successfully placed on the market”, reports Chief Operating Officer Friedrich Weninger, Member of the Management Board. The pulp plant Biocel Paskov (Czech Republic) acquired within the context of the Lenzing Group’s further backward integration was rapidly expanded in the reporting year to enable the production of both paper pulp and dissolving pulp. Some 60,000 tons of dissolving pulp were already produced in Paskov in 2011 and largely used for fiber production within the Lenzing Group. The Lenzing Group is an international group of companies. Lenzing provides the global textile and nonwovens industry with high-quality cellulose fibers.