Exel Composites (Mäntyharju / Finland; www.exelcomposites.com), a specialist of pultrusion and pullwinding of composite profiles, is planning to close its plant in Voerde / Germany by the end of April 2019 due to insufficient capacity utilisation. Twenty-three employees will be affected. The company reports that the works council has agreed to the decision. Its capacities are to be transferred to other Exel plants. From 2020 onwards, the company expects savings of EUR 1m following this measure, with a one-time cash cost of EUR 1.2m plus additional write-offs to goodwill and other balance sheet items.

The Voerde plant is the smallest of the company's nine current production sites. It produces composite profiles for use in telecommunications. The challenging situation on this market, however, means that sales have tailed off considerably of late.

The plant closure is part of Exel’s savings drive that the composites processor initiated at the end of 2018. This is aimed at reducing production costs in Europe – including an eye to the acquisition of Diversified Structural Composites (Erlanger, Kentucky / USA; www.diversified-composites.com – see Plasteurope.com of 30.05.2018) and at leveraging synergies at the two production plants in Nanjing, Jiangsu / China. Job cuts and other cost-reducing measures are to be implemented at Exel’s two Finnish plants in Mäntyharju and Joensuu, where the company employs a staff of 200. Negotiations there are scheduled to be completed by the end of February. The annual savings target of the programme is EUR 3m, which is expected to be fully effective in 2020.

Provisional figures show that Exel Composites' sales grew 12% to EUR 97m in 2018. In the fourth quarter of 2018, revenues increased more than expected due to higher demand from the wind energy sector. The company's adjusted operating profit is expected to be EUR 5m, somewhat lower than for the previous year. The Finnish company is specialised in masts for infrastructure, laminates for sports applications as well as profiles, tubes and rods with glass and carbon fibre reinforcements. It had previously forecasted an increase in sales but a more pronounced decline in its EBIT.