Econyl is made from 100% upcycled nylon waste materials. © Aquafil

Aquafil, a leading Italy-based specialist in the production of Polyamide 6 (nylon 6), has closed financial year 2018 with an increase in operating indicators. Net profit for 2018 amounted to EUR 30.1 million, up by 19.4%, compared to EUR 25.2 million in 2017. The increase in net profit was driven by EBITDA growth, as well as by a significant reduction of exchange losses compared to 2017.

Revenues of the financial year 2018 grew by 5.1%, reaching EUR 555.2 million, compared to EUR 528.3 million in 2017. The revenues in the fourth quarter declined slightly, by 0.6%. Such results are almost entirely attributable to the BCF (fibre for carpet flooring) line’s higher revenues in Asia and the US, partially penalised by the slowdown of the European market in the second half of 2018. The minor reduction in revenues during the fourth quarter is mostly attributable to the lower sales levels of the later due to planned in-house use of such polymers for fibre production for the US market.

EBITDA grew by 5.6% compared to the previous year and by 3.6% in the last quarter of 2018, rising from EUR 73.8 million to EUR 77.9 million on an annual basis. EBITDA margin amounted to 14% for the year and to 13.7% in the fourth quarter of 2018, mainly thanks to a better product sales mix.

Importance of Econyl brand

“The importance of the Econyl brand continues to grow and the interest in circular economy products is constantly increasing. Our Econyl brand products are increasingly appreciated by the market, especially in the US – and the number of agreements to utilise the brand on finished products has more than doubled in 2018, reaching over seven hundred partners,” commented Giulio Bonazzi, Aquafil’s Chairman and CEO.

“Moreover, there is a growing interest towards its application in other industries that use plastic raw materials, such as design objects or packaging, as a result of being increasingly aware of the importance of circular and sustainable ingredients.”

“We remain absolutely committed to the constant development and diffusion of our circular business model, as shown by the important investments already sustained and planned, which will translate into sustainable growth in the medium term.”

“The 2018 results showed an improvement in all the economic indicators compared to the previous year, despite the fact that the European market showed a weaker performance in the second half of the year.”

Strong growth and expansion

“We continue to show strong growth and expansion in the US market. We opened the first American Aquafil Carpet Recycling facility in Phoenix, Arizona in October 2018 and we have our second US facility underway in Northern California, which is scheduled to open in 2019,” commented Franco Rossi, Aquafil’s US President and Chairman.

“There continues to be growing demand for our carpet flooring materials in the US in the automotive industry. This demand has enabled us to grow North American sales from EUR 90.5 million in 2017 to EUR 103.7 million in 2018 – a 14.6% increase.”

“We look forward to continuing to expand our Econyl customers across the US in the fashion and carpet industries.”

 www.aquafil.com