VIENNA—The Semperit Group has recorded a significant year-on-year improvement in earnings for the year 2019, due in large part to a recently concluded two-year restructuring plan.
Earnings rose 46 percent to $60.5 million for the full year on 4.3 percent lower sales of $750.7 million, the Austrian group said in a March 20 report.
Overall, the industrial sector—which includes segments such as industrial hoses, seals, rubber sheeting, profiles and conveyor belts—recorded a 22.6 percent improvement in earnings to $78.1 million, on 3.5 percent lower sales of $488.6 million.
The company linked the increase to "the initiatives from the restructuring and transformation program."
The group's troubled medical sector, Sempermed, returned to profitability, posting $4.9 million in earnings, compared to a loss of $3.3 million registered the year before. Here, Semperit said, the ongoing operational restructuring measures increased productivity significantly at the unit.
The company improved EBITDA and operational EBIT levels throughout 2018 and 2019 "despite a noticeable drop in sales due to the economic situation," CEO Martin Fuellenbach said the financial report.
The profitability, Semperit added, was achieved "in an environment of increasingly subdued economic developments worldwide and global political conflicts."
This, the group said, led to uncertainty with regard to future investment decisions and to fears of recession.