The bottom line was a result after taxes of minus 26.9 million euros, after a minus of 64.9 million euros in the same period of the previous year. The group’s sales revenue increased from 623.1 million to 658.4 million euros, which was primarily due to an increase in fiber sales, Lenzing said in a press release on Wednesday.
“Going in the right direction”
The company, which had recently been faced with economic difficulties, was also in a better operational position in the first quarter. The operating result before depreciation (EBITDA) climbed from 29.7 million euros in the comparable period of the previous year to 71.4 million euros. “The Lenzing Group’s business development in the first quarter is going in the right direction. However, we cannot speak of a sustainable recovery in the markets as long as price pressure in the fiber business remains high,” said Lenzing boss Stephan Sielaff, commenting on the figures.
In the previous year, the company wrote down the value of five production plants by 465 million euros due to changed general conditions and reported a net loss of 593 million euros for 2023 on sales of 2.5 billion euros. Since November 2023, 500 full-time positions at Lenzing have been cut worldwide, including retirements and no replacements. In Austria, 80 jobs are affected. In addition to low fiber prices, the group continues to struggle with high costs for energy and raw materials, as stated in the statement on Wednesday.
The outlook remains subdued given the continued difficult market situation, as the release shows. However, Lenzing is sticking to its goal of achieving higher EBITDA in the 2024 financial year than in the previous year.
