VPK Packaging's year-to-date sales ending Q3 up 14.7% year-over-year to €531.9M, reports stagnation in volumes in Q3, raw material prices at unchanged high level, order intake weakening at end of quarter
Kendall Sinclair
EREMBODEGEM AALST, Belgium
,
November 17, 2011
(press release)
–
1. General
The third quarter of 2011 was characterised by stagnation in volumes compared to 2010. Raw material prices remained at an unchanged high level. This created a further continuing margin pressure on the packaging divisions. We saw our order intake weakening at the end of the quarter, in line with the general conjunctural evolution and the current uncertainty. The sales per end Q3-2011 amounted to 531.9 million EUR, which represents an increase of 14,7% compared to the same period last year.
VPK Packaging Group NV’s strong balance structure remains intact and allows us to cope with the coming months of uncertainty on the international financial markets.
2. Key events and transactions
VPK Packaging Group NV has expanded its external, international growth with the planned expansion in Germany, through the investment in the construction of a new sheet feeding plant in Leinefelde (Thüringen ). This project was carried out as a joint venture. The actual start of production is planned for Q3-2012. At full capacity, the factory will convert 90,000 tons of paper into corrugated board on an annual basis. As in the case of the Polish sites, the products will be commercialized under the trade name Aquila.
VPK Packaging Group NV also continues to investigate any opportunities that fit in with its business strategy. A further growth within the corrugated board segment, as well as a further increase of the paper segment is one of the options.
3. Business profile
VPK Packaging Group NV, listed on Euronext Brussels, is a vertically integrated Belgian packaging group with 26 companies spread across 12 European countries and having a total of 3,300 employees. VPK Packaging Group NV offers solutions to the specific needs of our customers in order to protect their manufactured products and to optimise their logical chains. The raw material exists almost solely of recycled paperfibre and contributes by this actively to a sustainable management of our natural resources.
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