Business
Year-End Trading Update
Year-End Trading Update.
About this update from Zotefoams Plc
[{"type":"text","content":"\n \nRNS Number : 3793A Zotefoams PLC 21 January 2020 \n\nZotefoams plc\n(\"Zotefoams\" or \"Group\" or \"the Company\")\n \nYear-End Trading Update\n \n \n21st January 2020 - Zotefoams, a world leader in cellular materials technology, today provides a trading update following the Company's financial year end on 31 December 2019.\n \nTrading conditions in the final quarter were largely as anticipated with the result that full year Group revenue will be at a similar level to 2018. For the financial year, business units performed as follows: \n \n· c20% increase in High Performance Products (\"HPP\") sales;\n· c60% increase in MuCell Extrusion LLC (\"MEL\") sales and;\n· c10% decline in Polyolefin sales, reflecting challenging market conditions in the second half of the year.\nIn the final quarter of the year profitability was ahead of management expectations prior to an adverse impact from foreign exchange rate movements. From the date of our last announcement on 3 October until 31 December 2019 sterling appreciation resulted in an adverse foreign exchange impact, for this period alone, on Group profit before tax of £0.8m. Of this, £0.6m related to the non-cash translation impact of intra-group loans. The Group therefore expects to report, subject to audit, adjusted profit before tax and exceptional item* for the year ended 31 December 2019 of approximately £9.1m.\n \nAll major capital projects were either completed during the year or are expected to complete in 2020 on time and on budget.\n \nThe Company expects to announce preliminary results for the year ended 31 December 2019 on Tuesday 24 March 2020.\n \nCommenting on the update David Stirling, Group CEO of Zotefoams, said: \nWhile market conditions during the year have been challenging for our Polyolefins business, we expect to see a recovery in 2020. In line with our long-term strategy we expect to deliver further growth in our HPP and MEL business units.\n \nDue to the current market conditions, recently commissioned long-term capacity investments are expected to run at low utilisation rates, with depreciation and other costs being under recovered in the short term. These investments are consistent with the opportunity and...