PFÄFFIKON - Despite the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, Oerlikon's Manmade Fibers Division delivered a strong performance in 2020, boosted by the performance of the Group's nonwovens business.
After securing record wins for filament equipment at the beginning of 2020 (with a total value of more than CHF 600 million), the division proved to be highly resilient for the remainder of the year, even after the outbreak of COVID-19, Oerlikon said, adding that the nonwoven business benefited from the unanticipated surge in demand for protective wear and masks.
This was also boosted by the acquisition of a majority stake in the joint venture Teknoweb Materials S.r.l. which extended Oerlikon's nonwoven production system portfolio for disposable nonwovens and strengthened the company's position in the nonwoven sector.
For the fourth quarter, Manmade Fibers' EBITDA was up 81% to CHF 47 million on the back of an 11.2% increase in sales to CHF 296 million.
For the full year, sales and orders for the division both exceeded CHF 1 billion, while the business has full order books for filaments and nonwovens equipment for the next two years.
Year on year order intake decreased slightly by 2.3% to CHF 1097 million compared to CHF 1122 million in 2019 while sales also decreased slightly by 4.0% to CHF 1 061 million, compared to CHF 1106 million in 2019.
Operational EBITDA improved year-over-year to CHF 151 million, or 14.2% of sales, compared to CHF 145 million, or 13.2% of sales, in 2019.
Operational EBIT for 2020 was CHF 120 million (2019: CHF 119 million), or 11.3% of sales (2019: 10.8%).
“Despite a challenging market environment heavily impacted by the pandemic, we reacted swiftly and executed well in 2020,” said Dr. Roland Fischer, CEO Oerlikon Group. “Our global and regional footprint and supplier network enabled us to fulfill customers’ orders and needs even during the lockdowns. For Manmade Fibers, we maintained our 2019 top line at around CHF 1.1 billion despite challenges posed by the pandemic."
