The manmade fibres performance of Oerlikon
Despite the ongoing market normalization, the Manmade Fibers Segment stabilized orders and sales for Q2 2015 to around the same levels seen in Q1 2015.
Orders came in at CHF 197 million (Q1 2015: CHF 205 million), while sales stood at CHF 209 million (Q1 2015: CHF 208 million). Year-on-year, the Segment reported for the second quarter 2015, as anticipated, lower order intake and sales.
The Segment also maintained good operating profitability with an EBITDA of CHF 37 million for the second quarter, corresponding to a margin of 17.6 %. The margin was lower than Q2 2014, but at the same level as seen in the preceding quarter (Q1 2015: 17.6 %), and reflects an EBITDA margin at mid-teen percentages for the third consecutive quarter. EBIT for Q2 2015 stood at CHF 32 million (Q2 2014: CHF 53 million).
The Manmade Fibers Segment strengthened its presence and business offering in the polycondensation market with the announced joint venture with Huitong in China. Furthermore, the Segment is increasing its efforts to grow its business outside of China and is seeing some positive sentiments in markets such as India. To improve proximity to customers, a new service center in Dalton, USA and a new technology centre in Chemnitz, Germany, was opened.
In the second quarter of 2015, the Segment launched EvoTape to enable greater process stability in efficient tape extrusion for the production of carpets, agricultural textiles and geotextiles and also introduced EvoQuench to increase production efficiency for microfiber filament yarns. For RoTac3, the yarn processing technology introduced in Q12015, substantial initial orders have already been received.