Lenzing Group has released its financial report for the first half of 2014. The business development of the Lenzing Group in the first half of 2014 was impacted by the ongoing difficult market conditions featuring considerably lower average fiber selling prices. The cost reduction program excelLENZ successfully initiated in 2013 was only able to partially offset the decline in sales and earnings in the first six months of 2014.
Consolidated sales in the first half-year 2014 declined by 9.1% to EUR 900.0 mn from the prior-year level of EUR 989.9 mn. More than half of this sales decrease can be attributed to the one-off effects relating to the divestment of the Business Unit Plastics towards the end of the second quarter of 2013 (H1 2013 sales of Lenzing Plastics: EUR 49.9 mn). On a like-for-like basis involving a year-to-year comparison of continuing operations, consolidated sales were down by 4.3% to EUR 900.0 mn from EUR 940.0 mn in the previous year.
