Danish egg packaging company Hartmann posted stable revenue in Q3 2014, while operating profit fell back. The results are attributable to a slow sales development in Europe and a temporarily higher cost level related to the expansion of production capacity in North America. The expansion has been implemented and will contribute to our Q4 results. We maintain our guidance for the full year with revenue of DKK 1.6-1.7 billion and a profit margin of 9.0-10.5%.
CEO Ulrik Kolding Hartvig says: "Even though revenue was stable in Q3, we are not satisfied with the results. We continued to grow the share of premium products, but sales in Europe were too low, and we incurred higher-than-expected costs in connection with the capacity expansion in North America."
"In North America, we have now increased our production capacity and created a solid platform for profitable growth. In Europe, we expect progress already in Q4 when growing sales of retail packaging and the closing of finished deliveries in our technology business will contribute to the results."
Total revenue came to DKK 373 million (2013: DKK 376 million) with operating profit at DKK 26 million (2013: DKK 39 million) in Q3 2014, corresponding to a profit margin of 7.0% (2013: 10.5%). Exchange rate fluctuations impacted negatively on revenue by DKK 6 million.
