Semperit sees 'clear progress' with improved results

VIENNA—Austrian rubber engineering group Semperit A.G. has reported improved results for the first nine months of 2018, with earnings (EBITDA adjusted for negative one-off effects), up 39.1 percent year-on-year at $51.9 million.

Revenues, the Vienna-based company noted in its Nov. 21 financial statement, were stable at $759 million.

"We see clear progress, which manifests itself particularly in the industrial sector," Chariman Martin Fuellenbach said in a statement.

The improvement in operating results, Fuellenbach said, was due to a restructuring program launched at the start of the year. The company has identified "more than 600 initiatives" that could contribute significantly to improving operating results, he said.

Semperit also made "considerable" changes in its personnel, restructuring the first and second management levels in its Sempertrans segment, Fuellenbach added.

During the nine-month period, the industrial sector, which includes the Sempertrans conveyor belt manufacturing, Semperform construction materials and Semperflex hose production, reported 5.6 percent higher sales at $490.6 million. Segment earnings soared 79.9 percent to $63.2 million during the period.

Sempertrans achieved its "best quarterly results in two years," the Austrian company said. This was despite lower sales, due in part to plant closures in China and France.

Raw materials and financial markets, however, faced increasing uncertainties as a result of the escalating trade war between the U.S. and China and rising inflation and currency devaluations in some emerging economies.

"Over the last few months, increased competition was observed for some of the raw materials," Semperit said.

Semperit has been facing a "temporarily limited availability" of some raw materials, including synthetic latex (nitrile), carbon black and EPDM rubbers.