Malmo, Sweden — Perstorp saw a 6% year on year growth in net sales in the first quarter of 2016 at its Specialties and Solutions segment driven by its Capa business which had a "record month in March," said Jan Secher, ceo in a conference call with financial analysts.
Capa highlight of Perstorp Q1
The division had sales of SEK 662m ($ 82m) and made earnings before interest tax deprecation and amortisation of SEK 196m, a 30% margin, Secher said. He explained: "Capa is a push market."
"It is about increasing the size of the cake, and the market, creating the market and making sure we get our fair share which is then significantly above what the other competitors have. It is very much around building the market, identifying new opportunities and applications and working with the customer to develop those and turn them into sales. That can be anything between a six to an 18 month process.”
Across Pertsorp, net sales decreased 11% to SEK 2,616 m from SEK 2,949m in Q1 2015. The lower price for key raw materials pushed down the general sales price for several Perstorp businesses. Despite lower sales prices, unit margins remained relatively stable for the main part of our businesses, said Secher.
He added that organic volume-based sales growth was flat year-on-year. Stronger volumes in the firm's specialty area was offset by lower volumes in especially our BioProducts business. EBITDA excluding non-recurring items amounted to SEK 457 m in the first quarter compared to SEK 531 m in the corresponding period last year.
