Tarkett Group Reports Q1 Sales Down 8.5%, NA Down 18.2%

Paris, FR, April 26, 2021-Tarkett reported net sales of 558.8 million euros for Q1 2021, an 8.5% decline from Q1 2020’s 610.7 million euros.

Adjusted EBITDA declined 6.1% to 34.0 million euros, from Q1 2020’s 42.4 million euros.

The North American segment remained depressed in Q1 2021, down -18.2% compared to Q1 2020 reflecting an organic decline of -11.0% and a negative forex impact mostly related to the depreciation of the dollar versus the euro compared to last year. Residential continued to grow double digit similarly to Q4 2020, as the group further benefitted from positive trends in private housing construction and renovation. The overall business remained penalized by the lack of recovery in commercial activities. Low visibility still penalized workplace and hospitality. As a result, commercial carpet activity was still down during the quarter. Sales were better in resilient but remained below last year, while rubber and accessories, used primarily in education and healthcare, improved at the end of the quarter.

Commenting on these results, CEO Fabrice Barthélemy said, “The start of the year is challenging but in line with our expectations, as some commercial segments are still penalized by the lack of visibility. We are also dealing with steep purchasing cost inflation combined with supply disruptions. Given this challenging environment, we are focused on increasing our selling prices and implementing our cost reduction plans. We also pursue the strategic initiatives of our Change to Win roadmap, making significant progress in our transformation journey. However, the pandemic impact on demand is generating some short term headwinds and we remain cautious on the pace of recovery.”

Net revenues of the sports segment were down -15.3% compared to last year, driven by an organic decline of -9.1% and a negative forex impact related to the dollar depreciation versus the euro. In 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic affected the sports business in North America later than flooring activities, as some projects started to be delayed and cancelled in H2 2020. As a result of this late impact, the pipeline of ongoing projects for Q1 2021 was low, particularly in turf activities in North America.

With a history of 140 years, Tarkett is a worldwide leader in innovative flooring and sports surface solutions, with net sales of € 2.6 billion in 2020.

The Group serves customers in over 100 countries across the globe.