SURTECO started the new year well

Buttenwiesen-Pfaffenhofen, 12 May 2011 – SURTECO SE continued the upturn of the previous year into the first three months of the current business year. As leading international specialist for surface technologies and major supplier to the construction and furniture industries, SURTECO SE is participating in the positive economic development in these two markets. And the upturn is not restricted to foreign markets alone but is also gathering pace in the domestic market.

SURTECO SE increased its sales to € 108.0 and exceeded the comparative figures for the year-earlier quarter by 20 %. An increase of 16 % to € 36.5 million means that business in the home market represents a greater proportion than in the previous year when growth was due almost exclusively to foreign business. The fact that this underwent a further increase of 21 % during the quarter under review demonstrates that SURTECO knows how to structure its business in a positive economic environment.

The Strategic Business Unit Plastics continues to be the main engine for sales of SURTECO SE. During the first three months of 2011, this line of business generated sales of € 60.6 million (€ +7.7 million) with an innovative portfolio of plastic edgebandings, plastic foils, technical extrusions (profiles) and cladding systems.

The Strategic Business Unit Paper made an equally gratifying start to the new year. The unit manufactures surface coatings based on technical papers destined primarily for the furniture industry and interior design. The strong demand for printed materials, edgebandings and preimpregnated and fully impregnated foils in all the key sales markets drove sales upwards by € 10.0 to € 47.4 million during the first quarter of 2011.

The sales achieved during the first quarter of 2011 enabled SURTECO SE to improve the operating result (EBITDA) by 20 % to € 18.2 million compared with the first quarter of 2010. Despite the high outgoings due to an upward trend in the cost of materials, the EBITDA margin at 16.9 % was at the same level as in the previous year. The lower percentage of depreciation and amortization meant that EBIT increased by 26 % to € 12.8 million, while the corresponding margin rose from 11.3 % to 11.9 %. Pre-tax earnings (EBT) went up by 8 % to € 8.7. The reason for the lower percentage increase compared with EBITDA was a further impairment on a package of shares held by SURTECO in Pfleiderer AG, Neumarkt, amounting to € 1.3 million.

The development of raw material prices will be a dominant issue in the business year 2011. Further price increases in plastics and technical raw papers cannot be excluded. Our efforts must therefore continue to be directed towards unrelenting cost optimization. In addition, to the projected growth in sales, we should therefore be in a position to present an improvement in earnings.