Plastics profile manufacturer Deceuninck (Hooglede-Gits / Belgium; www.deceuninck.com) has reported third quarter 2008 sales of EUR 177.0m, compared with EUR 179m in the same period in 2007. The company said that the steady performance was due in part to ongoing high demand in the renovation market. Sales in the first nine months of 2008 fell by 2% to EUR 488m (EUR 498m in 2007). At steady exchange rates the fall would have been only 0.2% compared with the first three quarters of 2007. Volumes fell by 1.3% year-on-year, due primarily to a drop in demand in the US. Excluding the US, volumes rose by 4.1%.

Earnings figures were not published, however the company said that positive net results for the third quarter of 2008 will compensate for the negative net result in the first half. In July, the company reported a net loss of EUR 5.87m for the first half of 2008, compared with a net profit of EUR 2.42m in the same period of 2007.

Sales rose by almost 3% year-on-year in Europe in the third quarter with the weak pound sterling and difficult market conditions in Poland having a particularly negative effect on sales during the period. In western Europe, Benelux and France returned sales increases of 7% and 15% respectively. Volumes in Spain and the UK were unchanged. Sales remained steady in the German market in comparison with the same period in 2007. Eastern Europe, excluding Poland, saw double-digit sales growth, driven primarily by continued strong demand in Russia and Central Europe.

In response to changes in the economic environment, the company appointed Philippe Maeckelberghe as CFO in June 2008. It has also restructured its operational organisation into three regions with the introduction of the European region, joining the US and Turkey. The European region is headed by Tom Debusschere, who joins Deceuninck from Unilin Group where he was president of the company’s decor division.