The recent acquisition spree of Austria’s Polytec Group (Hörsching / Austria; www.polytec-group.com) culminating in the agreement to acquire German auto supplier Peguform (Bötzigen; www.peguform.de) for an undisclosed sum – see Plasteurope.com of 29.08.2008 – may not be over. In any case, the group can think of better things to do than spend the next two years just integrating Peguform, CEO Friedrich Huemer hinted in a conference call with journalists.

The forward strategy will depend in part on how much credit can be drummed up. While Huemer acknowledged that the EUR 200m “war chest” Polytec possessed before the Peguform buy was not quite enough to cover the entire deal, an equity increase was not required. The CEO said the Austrian group previously was debt free. Peguform apparently also has sufficient liquidity, as Huemer said it also had been eyeing possible takeover targets.

Whether the Austrian manufacturer will seek the controlling share in German auto supplier Grammer, in which it already holds 9.9%, is still open. “We will look at this again over the next half year to a year,” said Huemer. A takeover of voestalpine subsidiary Polynorm, with sales of EUR 100m, is no longer on the table, he said.

Neither the Polytec chief nor Peguform CEO Gerhard Böhm is prepared to comment on the financial situation of the merged activities. However, Huemer indicated that earnings levels are certainly adequate, measured by the industry’s standards. As part of the merger process, there are no plans to achieve synergies by implementing major job cuts. The Peguform back-office functions will remain more or less intact, he suggested.

In Q2 2008, the Polytec Group reported sales of EUR 208.9m – an increase of nearly 40% against the EUR 152.7m reported for the 2007 quarter Most of the comparative improvement reflects the acquisition of Morsbach, Germany-based ISE Intex – see Plasteurope.com of 05.06.2007 – in July 2007. This company, along with the moulding compounds business of Menzolit Fibron (Bretten / Germany) acquired in April 2007, is now part of the Polytec “Automotive Systems” segment, which accounts for more than half of group turnover.

EBIT of the Automotive Systems declined by almost 20% in the second quarter, due to lower capacity utilisation rates, reflecting lower orders from major customer BMW. Start-up costs for new production units, as well as higher raw materials costs also depressed the segment’s earnings, and the EBIT margin sank to 1.2%. Net earnings were nearly halved.

The Automotive Composites segment, which had Q2 sales of EUR 73.5m (EUR 80.3m) and accounted for 35% of turnover, showed a better quarterly performance, with EBIT rising 25%. The net result, at EUR 5.5m, was 8.5% below last year’s period, however. Polytec’s smallest segment, Car Styling, which accounts for just under 10% of the group total, had sales of EUR 21.3m (EUR 18.2m). EBIT rose 33% against the 2007 quarter to 2.1m.