Austrian automotive supplier Polytec (Hörsching; www.polytec-group.com) said 2020 sales of EUR 522m were EUR 2m more than originally planned, but the total was still a decline of nearly 17% versus 2019. EBITDA fell by more than 29% on the year to EUR 48.3m, and net profit slumped some 60% to EUR 12.9m.

The declines also hit Polytec’s traditionally strongest segment in terms of sales, the passenger cars and light commercial vehicles segment. Sales fell by more than 15% to just under EUR 329m. The commercial vehicles branch of the company reported a more than 25% decline with EUR 118m. The industrial applications unit performed better with its polypropylene logistics boxes for industrial users as sales only fell some 6% to almost EUR 75m. In previous years, this division had grown at an above-average rate.

For the current financial year, Polytec management said it anticipates a sales increase to around EUR 575m and is targeting an EBIT of EUR 35m. The company expects the recovery to follow extensive restructuring.

Business in Upper Austria had already stalled in 2016 when no significant growth could be generated in the automotive business as other companies in the division reported high growth. As a result, the upheavals in the automotive sector – the diesel crisis and the trend towards electromobility – hit the company with full force. In addition, the global decline in car and truck registrations during the coronavirus pandemic has had a negative impact on business.

Since 2018, the company’s German plants in Cornberg, Weiden and Rastatt have been closed, as was its facility in Aksaray / Turkey (see Plasteurope.com of 19.08.2020). At the end of 2020, thermoplastic processing in Idstein / Germany was shuttered. In autumn 2020, Polytec sold its non-automotive industrial division and the associated plants in Bochum / Germany and Marchtrenk / Austria for EUR 17m (see Plasteurope.com of 17.11.2020).