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Nonwovens producer Ahlstrom inks Q4 pretax turnaround

04 Feb '15

2 min read

As against a pretax loss in the same quarter of 2013, Finland based nonwovens producer, Ahlstrom reported a turnaround in pretax profits in the fourth quarter of 2014 ending December 31, 2014.

Profit before taxes amounted to €5.7 million in the fourth quarter of 2014, which includes capital gains booked from the sale of Suominen Corporation and Munksjö Oyj shares compared to pretax loss of €11.1 million.

Resultantly, fourth quarter of 2014 earnings per share stood at €0.09 as against loss per share of €0.29 in the corresponding quarter of 2013.

Net sales in the reporting quarter rose marginally to €247.0 million from €243.4 million in the prior year quarter, which Ahlstrom attributed to better pricing and product mix as well as a favorable currency effect.

However, comparable net sales at constant currencies remained flat.

Operating loss excluding non-recurring items reduced to €1.8 million from €2.5 million in the same quarter of 2013.

Operating loss for the quarter under review too fell to €4.3 million compared to a operating loss of €5.5 million.

Including non-recurring items operating loss was €2.5 million in the fourth quarter of 2014 and €3.0 million in the fourth quarter of 2013.

Ahlstrom said profitability was hurt by low capacity utilisation in the Building and Energy business area, while Advanced Filtration, Transportation and Food business areas continued to improve profitability.

Earlier, Ahlstrom announced a new, simplified structure and organisation effective from January 1, 2015 to enable faster execution and stronger accountability within business areas.

Ahlstrom expects net sales in 2015 to be in the range of €1,000-1,100 million and the operating profit margin excluding non-recurring items is expected to be 3.5-5 per cent of net sales.

The board of directors has proposed a dividend totaling to €0.30 per share be paid for the financial year ended on December 31, 2014.

CEO Marco Levi said, “Our performance in the fourth quarter - typically our weakest of the year - remained unsatisfactory, but we expect to continuously improve our financial performance going forward.”

“Our rightsizing program is nearing completion and is reaching its planned targets. However, we will continue to maintain stringent cost control going forward,” he added. (AR)

Fibre2fashion News Desk - India