LENZING – A strong year-on-year improvement in revenue and earnings was reported by Austria’s Lenzing Group in the first nine months of 2021 – despite significant energy, raw materials and logistics cost increases.
The demand for wood-based, biodegradable fibres continues to grow, especially in the nonwovens sector, and growing optimism in the textile and apparel industry, along with the recovery in retail, led to a substantial increase in both demand and prices on the global fibre market, particularly at the start of the current financial year, the company reports.
Revenues climbed by 32.9% to €1.59 billion in the first nine months of 2021 as a result of higher sales volumes, especially in Asia, as well as higher viscose prices
The focus on wood-based speciality fibres such as Tencel, Lenzing, Ecovero and Veocel also had a positive impact, amounting to 72.4% of fibre sales.
Lenzing’s earnings before interest and tax more than doubled to €297.6 million in the nine-month period and net profit was €113.4 million compared to a net loss of $23.3 million in the first nine months of 2020.
“Lenzing has enjoyed a strong business performance to date in 2021,” said Thomas Obendrauf, the group’s CFO. “Demand for our wood-based, biodegradable speciality fibres is growing very well and the largest investment programme in our company’s history is still running according to schedule. With the imminent commissioning of the lyocell plant in Thailand, with an annual capacity of 100,000 tons, we will reach a highly important milestone for both the company and our goal to make the textile and nonwovens industries more sustainable.”
