Lenzing Plastics (www.lenzing-plastics.com), part of manmade fibres producer Lenzing (Lenzing / Austria; www.lenzing.com), has reported an operating loss (EBIT) of EUR 9.8m in 2009, compared with a profit of EUR 7.3m in 2008. Sales fell to EUR 148m in the year, from EUR 182m in 2008. The company said that poor economic conditions in the construction and automotive industries and in industrial and infrastructure investment had hit sales in the segment, which accounts for 12% of Lenzing Plastic’s total sales. A write-off of goodwill relating to the filaments business had compounded the poor operating result, the company said. Lenzing said the market for its plastics business is expected to remain difficult in 2010, although optimisation measures are expected to improve results over 2009.

Overall, Lenzing reported operating profit of EUR 101m, down from EUR 130m in 2008, on sales down 6% year-on-year at EUR 1.25 bn.

Lenzing Plastics produces a range of polyolefin and fluoropolymer products and specialises in the mono-axial stretching of polymers in the production of films and tapes with extremely high tensile strength. The company operates in four product areas: thermoplastics, PTFE, filaments and acrylic fibres and carbon fibre precursors.