Pipe systems manufacturer Wavin (Zwolle / The Netherlands; www.wavin.com) has entered into an agreement with KWH Pipe (Vasaa / Finnland; www.kwhpipe.com) to acquire its PE water business for below ground applications KWH Sweden (Borås / Sweden), which has an annual revenue of around EUR 10m. Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed. Wavin will take over around 30 staff and the assets of the business. Wavin Sweden, which is based in Eskilstuna, has around 85 employees and is active mainly in the civils and infrastructure sector. Wavin CEO Henk ten Hove said: “This acquisition will put us into the clear number two position in civils and infrastructure in Sweden and strengthen Wavin’s product offering in Sweden and Norway.”

Meanwhile, Wavin has recorded a year-on-year fall in operating profits (EBITDA) in the third quarter of 2010 to EUR 36.5m, from EUR 44.3m in the same period in 2009. The company blamed the fall on challenging conditions in the quarter, price competition because of overcapacity in the industry and limited ability to pass on raw material price increases. Sales in the quarter increased by 8.0% year-on-year to EUR 346m, with like-for-like sales up 5.2% thanks to volume growth and gradually improving prices. Operating profit for the first three quarters of 2010 was EUR 84.4m, down 6.0% on the same period in 2009. In the first nine months of 2010, total sales were EUR 940m, up 5.3% year-on-year, despite a very slow start to the year. The like-for-like revenue increase in the first nine months of the year was 2.4%.

Wavin said that towards the end of the third quarter, margins started to improve as raw material prices stabilised and price increases were coming through. Looking forward, it said that the positive revenue trend is expected to continue in Q4, but price competition and raw material cost volatility remain challenging. In Q4 it will implement further restructuring measures. Full year net profit is forecast to be slightly ahead of 2009. The company will publish its full year 2010 results on 2 March 2011. Geographically, most countries contributed to the revenue increase, with double digit growth in Poland, the Nordic countries and the UK. However, in the Netherlands sales continued to decline.