The listed Linz Textil (LT) AG is planning a “very cautious cut in investments for the next few years due to the macroeconomic situation”, as it was said at the balance sheet press conference on Friday.
According to board spokesman Friedrich Schopf, consideration is being given to reducing capacity by up to 30 percent. The reason is the high energy costs. Ten employees in the Landeck spinning mill are therefore threatened with dismissal.
The reduction in investment creates free liquidity, which is distributed as a “liquidity dividend” of EUR 24 in addition to the basic dividend of EUR 4.
2021 was a “good year”
According to CFO Eveline Jungwirth, this amounts to 8.4 million euros with 300,000 shares. Schopf described 2021 as a “challenging, exciting, but all in all a good year.” Sales rose by ten percent to 92.5 million euros.
At around ten million euros, the operating cash flow before taxes was 2.1 million euros lower than in 2022. According to Schopf, the market environment was positive. In a nutshell, 2021 offered “just regarding everything that has happened in the textile industry in the last 30 years” – excessive demand, price increases for chemicals, logistics, and packaging through to energy issues.
According to Jungwirth, cost increases might not have been passed on 100 percent. “Despite these developments, EBIT increased by ten percent compared to 2020 to EUR 3.3 million.”