The Austrian fiber manufacturer Lenzing AG was able to slightly improve its sales in the first quarter of the 2023 financial year, but also had to accept a significantly higher loss. This emerges from an interim report published by the company on Wednesday.
According to this, group sales in the period from January to March were EUR 623.1 million, which corresponds to an increase of 1.3 percent compared to the same quarter of the previous year. “This increase is primarily due to higher pulp sales, while fiber sales were down,” explained Lenzing.
However, earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) fell by 66.2 percent to EUR 29.7 million. At 64.9 million euros, the net loss was almost twice as high as in the same period last year, when it was 34.1 million euros.
CEO Stephan Sielaff emphasized that the overall situation has recently improved again. “After the crisis year 2022, the negative after-effects were still clearly noticeable in the first quarter of 2023. However, we saw signs of a recovery in both demand and energy and commodity costs during the quarter,” he said in a statement. “In the medium and long term, we continue to expect a strong increase in demand for sustainable products from Lenzing.” The group is also counting on the future positive effects of the reorganization and savings measures already introduced.