Kirn.  Benefiting from a solid performance in Europe and significant growth in Asia, the SIMONA Group managed to expand sales revenue by 8.3 per cent to €100.7 million in the third quarter of 2017 (Q3 2016: €93.0 million). In the United States, the Group succeeded in matching the substantial revenue level recorded in the same quarter a year ago.

Looking at the period covering the first nine months of the financial year, sales revenue generated by the plastics processing company rose by 7.2 per cent to €300.9 million (9M 2016: €280.7 million).

As for the individual product categories, the Group saw a substantial upturn in revenue within the area of Semi-Finished and Finished Parts during the first three quarters. This was attributable primarily to its performance in the application fields of chemical tank and equipment engineering, mechanical engineering and aviation. Overall, the Pipes and Fittings division also recorded slight growth. This was driven mainly by positive developments in the market for industrial applications.

Earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) amounted to €7.0 million in the third quarter, after €7.1 million in the same period a year ago. In the first three quarters as a whole EBIT totalled €20.2 million (previous year: €23.5 million). This figure includes a foreign exchange loss of €5.5 million. The EBIT margin was 6.7 per cent (previous year: 8.4 per cent).

As part of its "Home2025" project, SIMONA assessed the impact of changes in the world of work and work-related processes, which also included the aspect of the Group's future seat of corporate administration. Having conducted an in-depth analysis of the findings, the Management Board and Supervisory Board decided that Kirn would remain the Group's headquarters and administrative centre for the foreseeable future.

"We are satisfied with the direction taken by sales revenue in the third quarter. Provided we are not confronted with any exceptional events, we are confident that we can achieve sales revenue of €385-395 million in the financial year as a whole. Earnings have been adversely affected by foreign currency effects. Despite this, we anticipate that we will be in a position to achieve our EBIT target of €25-30 million at the lower end of the guidance range," says Wolfgang Moyses, CEO of SIMONA AG.