Lenzing earnings more than double in H1

The Lenzing Group reported a significant improvement in revenue and earnings in the first half of the year. The company’s revenue rose by 27.5 percent to 1.03 billion euros in the first half of 2021 driven by higher viscose prices, which stood at more than 15,000 Chinese yuan in May thanks to significantly higher demand for fibers, especially in Asia.

The company said, EBITDA amounted to 217.8 million euros compared to 95.6 million euros in the first half of 2020. The EBITDA margin rose from 11.8 percent to 21.1 percent. Net profit for the period amounted to 96.1 million euros compared to a net loss of minus 14.4 million euros in the first half of 2020 and earnings per share to 3.06 euros compared to 0.06 euros.

“Lenzing had a very strong first half-year. The demand for our sustainably produced specialty fibers once again developed excellently,” says Stefan Doboczky, CEO of the Lenzing Group.

Lenzing expects a continued increase in demand for sustainably produced fibers for the textile and apparel industry as well as for the hygiene and medical industry.

The company added that with the prospect of a progressing active immunization of a broad population against Covid-19, optimism and confidence in an early return to normality are also growing within the textile value chain. However, the currently positive environment is still characterized by a high level of uncertainty, also due to the increased occurrence of virus mutations and the extreme occurrence of infections in countries such as Brazil and India.

Taking into account the above factors and due to the very positive development of the first half of the year, the Lenzing Group expects the EBITDA in 2021 to reach at least a level of 360 million euros.