May 20, 2021 Sárszentmihály. Despite of some disruptions in the supply chain, Masterplast completed another blockbuster first quarter. The expansion of the German market and subsidiary countries, and the surprisingly fast upturn in the healthcare segment, raised the company’s earnings to record highs. The base effect also contributed to the historical records, as the healthcare segment was not yet active in the same period last year.
Besides the incentive effect of expansive government supports, the largest Hungarian construction material manufacturer was able to continue its work in a lively market environment in Hungary. In the subsidiary and export countries, the market sentiment was similarly favorable. In most European countries, besides the conscious crisis management of the pandemic, both the construction and health care industries started the year with high momentum, resulting in a significant demand boosting effect. On the other hand, the unprecedented and drastic price increase of raw materials and the purchasing difficulties posed serious challenges to the company in the first months of the year. The rapid price increase of steel, plastic and construction chemicals, the difficulties in global supply chains, the general capacity shortages and the narrowing logistic systems further escalated this, which consequences appeared quickly in the prices of construction and healthcare products. But in spite of all this, it was successful to secure the supply of raw materials for production, which proved to be crucial to the results achieved. The production in Germany has played a significant role in fulfilling the healthcare industry and the German market. Both areas generated new additional revenue in the first quarter, because these two segments were not yet active in the same period of the base year. All in all, the base is ensured by the stable domestic performance, and the faster-than-expected upswing of the German and healthcare sales, as well as the expansion accomplished in subsidiaries and export countries contributed to the achievement of these outstanding results.
In the most successful first quarter of all time, the €38.3 million-revenue was €13.3 million higher than in the same period last year, while with a 11.4-percent EBITDA, it rose to €4.4 million. Moreover, the profit after tax increased tenfold, and with its 7.3-percent-proportion amounted to €2.8 million.
In terms of production, the Aschersleben plant has performed particularly well and the efficiency of production in Serbia has also improved tremendously, while the ongoing investments are progressing as planned. The third phase of the Subotica fiberglass investment is taking place in an orderly manner, so are the investments at the company’s headquarter in Sárszentmihály, realizing the production of healthcare raw materials and finished products. The development of the raw material for the healthcare industry is completed in June and production is expected to start in the third quarter, while the investment in the production of finished healthcare products is currently in the process of machine procurement and production is expected to start by the end of the year.
“As an incentive effect of state aids providing assistance for families and for the purchase of a home, the year started off well in the construction industry of Hungary. According to our researches and experience, the willingness to renovate or build a home is unprecedently high – which provides a good foundation for us for the rest of the year. What is more, we apparently can work in a more vibrant market environment across Europe both in the construction and healthcare industries, so the export, the healthcare sales and the subsidiaries can continue to be the engine of growth. The drastic price increase of raw materials and the difficulties in supply are constantly challenging us, but we believe that we will remain to be able to fulfill the needs of our customers and support the competitiveness of our partners by offering marketable products and services.” – added Tibor Dávid, CEO of Masterplast.
Masterplast Nyrt.
Founded in 1997, the Masterplast group is one of the leading building material producer and distributor companies in the Central Eastern European region. The company group owns subsidiaries in 10 countries, and sells products in a further 30 countries. The company is registered in the premium category on the Budapest Stock Exchange, and had revenue of 145,2 million euros in 2023.