EQS-News

KAP REACHES 2023 ADJUSTED GUIDANCE FORECAST AND PROJECTS SIGNIFICANTLY RISING EBITDA - Seite 2

In the reporting year, net normalisation adjustments totalled €-41.2 million (previous year: €-7.6 million). Non-recurring expenses and income of €-42.6 million thereof were attributable exclusively to the sale of a subsection of the flexible films segment. Without considering these special and non-recurring effects, EBITDA increased by 34.5% to €58.5 million (previous year: €43.5 million).

Marten Julius, Spokesman of the Management Board of KAP AG: “It’s true that 2023 was impacted by many negative economic factors that we were unable to influence, or only to a very limited extent. Nevertheless, we cannot be satisfied with the result, which is why we have already initiated the necessary steps to make the KAP Group and its segments leaner, more efficient and responsive. But, that aside, we can already see the environment slowly recovering and demand for our products rising again on markets that are important to us, such as for pool liners for instance.”

Segments exhibit varied developments
The flexible films segment recorded 24.8% lower revenue in 2023 than in the previous year on a comparable basis, that is without the subsection sold. Including the subsection sold, revenue amounted to €98.3 million, down approximately 44.5% year on year (previous year: €177.1 million). In the reporting period, this segment was negatively affected by the end of the pandemic-related economic buoyancy due to the cocooning effect – many dealers had bought products, particularly pool liners, in the previous year but were unable to sell off the high level stockpiled at the anticipated rate in the reporting period. Added to this was a noticeable downturn in the construction sector. Having said that, the first signs of a trend reversal and of demand starting to rise again were already becoming apparent at the end of 2023. On a comparable basis, normalised EBITDA decreased, in line with revenue, from €10.3 million to €8.1 million and the normalised EBITDA margin increased by 0.5 percentage points from 9.9% to 10.4%. Including the subsection sold, normalised EBITDA slid from €22.4 million down to €9.8 million. The normalised EBITDA margin narrowed by 2.6 percentage points to 10.0% (previous year: 12.6%).