Impressive cellulose fibre business
Austrian Lenzing Group presents excellent figures for the first nine months of 2011 and continues high investment activity
At Lenzing Group (A) the fibre business has a dominating role and thanks to the higher volume of specialty fibres Lenzing Modal® and TENCEL® contributed to solid earnings also in the third quarter of the ongoing year and the output volume of Modal® reached a new record.
Consolidated proceeds amounted in the first nine months to EUR 1592.2 (1285.5) million and the operating result (EBIT) was EUR 289.7 (EUR 168.8) million and therefore the resulting EBIT margin increased from 13.1 % to 18.2 %. The total investment reached EUR 130.5 (EUR118.2) million and was propelled by the fibre and pulp expansion of the production capacity. On the other hand debt was halved from EUR 307.2 million to EUR 150.0 million.
Lenzing expects and confirms its outlook for 2011: turnover between EUR 2.1 to EUR 2.2 billion and EBITDA will be between EUR 470 million to EUR 500 million.
In the core fibre business Lenzing estimates the average selling prices in line with third quarter levels and installed production capacities will be fully utilized. The company does not expect raw material prices to change dramatically and investments will continue to be in the order of 10% of proceeds however parts of the invoices will be charged to the books 2012. Lenzing is not making any estimates beyond 2011 because of the political and financial uncertainties but is convinced that the demand for man made cellulose fibres will continue to grow.