The detailed financial figures that have now been published by Belgian profile manufacturers Deceuninck NV (B-8830 Hooglede-Gits; www.deceuninck.com) for 2000 confirm the provisional announcement of a high growth in sales – at around 20% – to EUR 340m (see Plasteurope.com 03, 2001). At the same time, however, they show the various profit margins to be stagnating or clearly lagging behind. The EBIT rose 4.1% to EUR 37.5m. According to Deceuninck, high PVC prices were primarily to blame for this result. Profit margins then increased considerably towards the end of the year thanks to cost-cutting measures and a fall in raw materials prices. A higher profit is expected for the current year not least on account of these two latter factors.

Particular growth impetus came from the refurbishment trend in Europe, explains Deceuninck. France, South West Europe, Great Britain and Eastern Europe have all been very good markets. In the USA, by contrast, business slackened after the year had initially got off to a good start. Deceuninck has diversified geographically into four principal areas: Western Europe (33%), North America (27%), Great Britain (20%) and Central and Eastern Europe/Turkey (20%). Although Deceuninck will be concentrating on fully integrating a newly-acquired company in the near future, acquisitions, joint ventures and new investments in Asia, Eastern Europe and South America cannot be excluded.