Kordsa, Leading the Industry with Its Reinforcement Technologies, Continued to Grow in the First Quarter of 2018
Kordsa closed 2017 with growth and delivered profitable results in the first quarter of 2018. Through reinforcement technologies that strengthen life worldwide, Kordsa is setting the direction in its sector while continuing sustainable growth through the technologies it develops and investments it makes across its three business lines.
Kordsa's financial results for the first quarter of 2018 evolved in line with expectations announced on the exchange. Net sales in the first quarter of 2018 increased 13% compared to the same period of 2017 and 10% compared to the previous quarter, reaching TRY 713 million.
As a result of operational efficiency initiatives and sound management of raw material price increases, Kordsa's operating profit rose 15% compared to the same period of 2017 to reach TRY 111 million. The company's EBITDA reached TRY 120 million while net profit stood at TRY 71 million, supported by a strong capital structure.
Expressing satisfaction with the growth achieved in the first quarter of 2018, Kordsa Chief Executive Officer Ali Çalışkan shared developments, investments and 2018 targets in tire reinforcement, construction reinforcement and composite technologies:
"As Kordsa, our goal is to create value for the communities in which we operate and to maintain our leadership in every area we do business through the strength we derive from our R&D and innovation capabilities. In the first quarter of 2018, we began implementing the investments we made in 2017.
In the tire reinforcement sector, with a USD 30 million investment, we constructed additional polyester yarn lines in Turkey and Indonesia. The line in Indonesia came online in January 2018 and commenced production. We announced record profit and sales figures for Indonesia in 2017.
With this new line, we are strengthening our position in Indonesia, the preferred market of the Asia-Pacific region. The line in Turkey, whose foundation was laid at the end of 2017, is scheduled to open during 2018.
In construction reinforcement, we expanded our product range with products that are easy to use, provide long-term durability and offer high performance advantages. We aim to bring our new polypropylene monofilament product, which will provide cost and performance benefits to the sector, to both the Turkish and European markets in 2018."
Ali Çalışkan summarized developments in technology and innovation at Kordsa as follows: "We are in discussions with more than 60 companies in composite technologies, which are referred to as the material of the future. Through our investments in composite technologies, we aim to achieve growth in new markets and new geographies.
At our Composite Technologies Centre of Excellence, which serves as a pioneering and exemplary model of industry-university collaboration, we achieved an innovation last year that will accelerate production speeds in the automotive composites field. At the centre, we continue our work without pause on developing visual and structural components for producing stronger and lighter vehicles.
We launched our thermoset prepreg product, which stands out in the automotive and aerospace sectors for properties such as lightness, durability and longevity, in Paris in March. We are carrying out collaborative work with numerous institutions.
We are participating in joint projects involving the development of systems, software and materials for the production of composite materials using 3D printing technology, and the production of nano-material-enhanced composite repair materials for the aerospace sector."
