VIENNA, Austria—Semperit A.G. continued its organic growth in the first half of 2014 as its sales rose 2.9 percent to $614.8 million with strong contributions from its two primary segments, medical and industrial.
Higher global sales of the two operations offset a decrease in selling price levels caused by a substantial drop in raw material costs, the firm said. The drop in material prices led to a 1.5 percent decline in earnings after taxes of $36.8 million from $37.3 million in last year's first half due to somewhat higher expenses.
Double digit growth was achieved in the Medical Sector while the more cyclically dependent Industrial Sector further increased its revenue and profitability, the company said.
“The expansion of our sales activities and the further globalization of our business paid off again in the first half of 2014,” Semperit CEO Thomas Fahnemann said. “This enabled us to achieve double digit sales increases and to grow once more faster than the market. We not only gained market shares and attracted new customers, but also managed to further increase profitability.
“This can be attributed to our high capacity utilization as well as the successful, active management of our raw material needs.”