euro adhoc: Lenzing AG
Quarterly or Semiannual Financial Statements
/ The Lenzing Group 1- 9/2003
Satisfactory Development in Spite of Difficult Overall Conditions (E)
Disclosure announcement transmitted by euro adhoc. The issuer is responsible for the content of this announcement.
The challenging environment continued during the third quarter 2003 - First signs of recovery - Sales 1-9/2003, amounting to EUR 450.4 mill., were about on previous-year level - Incident at Lenzing Lyocell without major consequences - Good result expected for 2003
Important Key Data 1-9/2003 US-GAAP on a Group Basis EUR mill. 1-9/2003 1-9/2002 7-9/2003 7-9/2002 Sales 450.4 4 66.9 149.0 155.9 EBITDA 83.9 91.2 26.0 31.0 EBIT 51.5 60.3 15.4 20.8
Income before taxes and minority interest (EBT) 56.3 56.0 16.2 21.0
Net income for the period after minority interest 39.7 36.5 11.7 13.4 ~
Good Result for the Fiber Business
Lenzing AG's fibers business division held its ground against the unfavorable overall conditions on the fiber markets and obtained a good result for the first nine months of 2003. The production facilities worked to full capacity, and the expansion of the fiber capacities at Lenzing will be completed on schedule by the end of the year.
An incident that occurred on 23 September 2003 at Lenzing Lyocell/Heiligenkreuz caused considerable damage of about EUR 5 to 7 mill., for which there is insurance coverage. By the end of November, the plant will re-commence its operation. The incident will not have any major consequences, on account of the good demand from Asia, although income from sales and the result for fiscal 2003 will fall short of expectations.
South Pacific Viscose (SPV), the Indonesian associate, obtained a very good result, thanks to record production quantities and good export activities.
As was reported, the US-minority holding Lenzing Fibers Corporation was transferred to the majority shareholder of the company, a private equity group, with 21 November 2003 being the effective date.
Positive Contributions to the Result from Lenzing's Engineering and Systems Construction, Plastics and Paper Sectors
All three business sectors in the non-fiber specific fields, obtained positive contributions to the result. For Lenzing Technik, the engineering and systems construction company, in particular, the very good development continued during the third quarter.
The market environment of Lenzing Plastics has clearly improved. After it had recently been possible to obtain major sales increases regarding composite materials for the building and insulating-material industries, business with the high-quality Lenzing Profilen® fibers was clearly off to a good start during the third quarter.
Due to cyclical reasons, demand for special papers continued to be slack. However, it was once again possible to obtain a positive result, which was supported by all necessary measures.
Outlook for 2003 as a Whole
The Lenzing Group expects once again to obtain an altogether good result for fiscal 2003. In Asia, especially in China, there are already first signs for an improvement of the fiber demand. In Europe, the cyclical environment has not yet shown a clear upswing, and the weak dollar exchange rate continues to burden the European textile industry.
For the fibers sector, Lenzing therefore expects a favorable course of business for the rest of the year regarding special fibers, with the focus of sales being in Asia. In Europe, the Group expects demand for textile fibers and nonwovens to pick up. Lenzing Technik will end fiscal 2003 with a very good result, and for Lenzing Plastics business will develop better than was originally expected. ~
end of announcement euro adhoc 26.11.2003
Further inquiry note:
Mag. Angelika Guldt
Branche: Chemicals
ISIN: AT0000644505
WKN: 064450
Index: WBI
Börsen: Wiener Börse AG / official dealing
Berliner Wertpapierbörse / free trade
Bayerische Börse / free trade
Baden-Württembergische Wertpapierbörse / free trade