Frankenthal, Germany, April 15--For the business year 2004, Tarkett AG recorded a turnover of 1,436.8 million Euro ($1.84B) compared to 1,394.3 million Euro ($1,79B) in the previous year. This corresponds to an increase of 3% at current exchange rates and 5.1% at constant exchange rates.
Turnover development by product segment and at current exchange rates (figures at constant exchange rates in brackets) was as follows: sales in the Resilient Flooring business grew by 3.6% (5.7%), with both divisions making an equal contribution: Resilient Residential increased by almost 4% (6.6%), while sales of resilient floorings in the Commercial segment came in with a plus of 3.2% (4.7%). Wood decreased by 1.2% but, at constant exchange rates, this segment showed an increase of 2.9%. Once again, Laminate continued its growth trend with a strong plus of 39.3% (39.%).
Sales by regions and markets at current exchange rates (figures at constant exchange rates in brackets) developed as follows: with a plus of 3.5% (3.3%), West Europe showed a positive sales development. This increase is mainly attributable to the large volume markets with a sales plus of 11.8% (10.8%) in the UK, an increase of 7.8% (+7.4%) in South Europe, including the Benelux countries, and an increase of 1.9% in France. Germany also contributed a sales increase of 3.1%.
Once again, turnover in East Europe, including Russia, continued to grow – this time by 21.2% (21.2%), mainly driven by the sales contribution from the joint venture with Sintelon. North America lost 6.4% in sales but showed an increase of 1.5% at constant exchange rates.
EBITA for 2004 reached 97.3 million Euro, ($124.9 M)a decrease of 7% compared to the previous year’s figure of 105.3 million Euro. This development is mainly attributable to the enormous increase in raw material prices for resilient products that had an especially negative effect on the Residential division’s result.
The company’s efforts to reduce indirect costs could only partially neutralize this negative impact.
However, Tarkett AG was able to increase its net profit from 42.3 million Euro in 2003 ($54.3M) to 42.5 million ($54.6M) for the business year 2004.
In 2005, the continued increase in raw material prices will require further adjustments of the company’s sales prices and will, in addition, constitute a challenge for its profitability. Tarkett AG will react to this with additional cost-saving measures and continue its concentration on innovation, growth markets and increased productivity.
