DGAP-News

KAP AG INCREASES REVENUE AND EARNINGS SIGNIFICANTLY IN THE FIRST HALF OF 2021 - Seite 2

In the first six months of the year, KAP AG's segment companies benefited from a growing recovery in the automotive sector and strong growth in industrial production and the construction industry. The significant revival of customer demand boosted unit sales across all segments.

Growth would have been even higher had it not been for the global supply chain problems and supply constraints caused by the COVID-19 crisis. On account of long-term agreements, the segment companies were unable to pass on price increases on the procurement side in full to customers. Despite these challenges, the KAP Group increased its operating profitability.

In the engineered products segment, the restructuring measures already implemented had a positive impact on profitability. While revenue in the first six months of 2021 decreased by 10.4% to €60.0 million (previous year: €67.0 million), normalised EBITDA improved to €5.0 million (previous year €4.5 million). The decline in revenue is primarily attributable to the definitive closure of two production sites in the second half of the previous year as part of the segment's realignment towards higher-value products.

The flexible films segment continued on its growth path in the first half of 2021, benefiting from its strong market position and the acquisition of extrusion specialist AerO Coated Fabrics. The segment companies achieved revenue growth of 32.2%, reaching €67.3 million (previous year: €50.9 million). EBITDA rose by 23.5% in the first six months of the year to €10.0 million (previous year: €8.1 million).

In the surface technologies segment, revenue rose steeply by around 22% to €30.7 million (previous year: €25.2 million) following the sharp fall in demand in the automotive sector in the same period of the previous year as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. A stronger recovery was hindered by lower call-up levels owing to supply shortages as well as a fire-related interruption of operations since the fourth quarter of 2020 at a production site in the United States. Normalised EBITDA rose by 70.6% to €5.8 million (previous year: €3.4 million).