The Egger Group is growing. Big plans for the future

The Egger Group again set new records in its annual results for 2016/2017. The sales increased during the business year 2016/2017 by +1.7 percent to reach Eur2,384.8 million. The Ebitda increased by +4.0 percent to reach Eur 363.7 million. The Ebitda margin exceeded previous years’ levels by 15.3 percent. The family business continues to enjoy a good credit rating thanks to a high equity ratio of 37.5 percent. The quantity of rawboards, incl. timber, increased to 7.9 million m³ (+3 percent), which means the full utilisation of all primary production capacities. On average last year, Egger employed 8,145 employees group-wide.
Positive sales developments were achieved and the market share was developed in almost all regions across the world. Despite uncertainties following the Brexit vote, the overall development in Great Britain over the past twelve months was positive. Diminished sales and earnings are due exclusively to a weaker British Pound. The tense political and economic situation in Turkey led to lower local sales of edging, which, however, was largely compensated through exports.
Egger will be busy taking big steps towards further growth during the current business year 2017/2018 and beyond. On the 17th of July, the Group announced it is taking over the plant Concordia, Argentina, from the Chilean Masisa S.A. This will be the first time Egger is represented with a production site outside Europe. The plant in Concordia has facilities for the production and lamination of chipboard and Mdf boards. The production capacity in 2016 was of 165,000 m³ chipboards, 280,000 m³ Mdf boards and 274,000 m³ lamination. Alongside the plant and its distribution, Egger will also take over the established Masisa Placacentro Argentinian dealer network, which is independently run by 42 partners.
The already announced new construction of a chipboard plant in Biskupiec, in the north of Poland, is due to start on the 85 ha site in the next few weeks. The new wood-based materials plant will use the latest technology and will be equipped with a raw chip capacity of 650,000 m³, lamination and impregnation units. The total investment is approximately Eur 250 million. Egger expects to complete the new facility towards the end of 2018.
Another greenfield project is currently in the early planning stages. Together with the Governor and representatives of local authorities, Egger has recently announced its intention to build a wood-based materials plant in Lexington, North Carolina. The project implementation is scheduled to take place in several stages, the first being the construction of a chipboard plant with coating capacities. Construction should start by the end of 2018. The first project phase involves an investment of approximately Eur 260 million.
Given all these large projects, the Egger Group has positive expectations for the future. Egger expects the revenue and results to continue growing in the current business year, which started in May. The reason is the positive development in Europe and Russia.