Ongoing strong demand enabled German Lenzing Group to achieve a new record sales volume of 960,000 tons (+ 8%) in the 2014 financial year against the backdrop of a further drop in fiber selling prices and a very challenging market environment once again.
Operating results could be substantially improved thanks to the implementation of the excelLENZ program and its subsequent intensification. The Management Board will propose to the Annual Shareholders’ Meeting that a dividend of EUR 1.00 per share (2013: EUR 1.75 per share) be distributed to shareholders for the 2014 financial year.
In the 2014 financial year, consolidated revenue fell slightly by 2.3% to EUR 1.86 bn from EUR 1.91 bn in the previous year. The main reasons for this development were the sale of the Business Unit Plastics in the course of 2013 as well as the average fiber selling prices of the Lenzing Group, which once again fell by about 8% during the year under review to EUR 1.57 per kilogram. On a like-for-like basis of continuing operations, consolidated revenue remained at a constant level (up 0.3% from EUR 1,859.0 mn in 2013 to EUR 1,864.2 in 2014).
In spite of the low prevailing selling prices, Lenzing generated a significant improvement in its operating results. EBITDA¹ (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) of the Lenzing Group rose by 24.0% from the challenging 2013 financial year from EUR 193.9 mn to EUR 240.3 mn. The EBITDA margin² climbed to 12.9% (2013: 10.4%). This substantial rise in earnings can be attributed to massive cost savings achieved within the context of the excelLENZ progam, improvements in the product mix and the new TENCEL® fiber production plant in Lenzing accompanied by an overall leaner organizational structure.
“Our cost reduction program led to savings far in excess of EUR 100 mn in 2014“, says Peter Untersperger, Chief Executive Officer of the Lenzing Group.
