2015 was a successful year for Heinzel Group

  • Sales revenues raised by 5.3% to stand at EUR 1,480.4 million
  • EBIT increased by 39.8% to EUR 94.2 million
  • Alfred H. Heinzel moves to the Supervisory Board
  • Kurt Maier becomes the new Heinzel Holding CEO
  • Acquisition of Raubling Papier and Chiemgau Recycling

Heinzel Group was again able to achieve growth in 2015 with a rise in sales revenues of 5.3% to EUR 1,480.4 million. This purely organic increase is all the more notable in view of the fact that owing to damage the plants in Pöls and Laakirchen demonstrated lower production output. While as a consequence sales in the Industrial Business Area were 6.6% down on the level of the preceding year at EUR 485.8 million, trading gained 11.4% to stand at EUR 1,109.2 million. Apart from geographical business expansion, the basis for this increase in trading sales revenues was furnished by the enlargement of the product range. Of the total of 3,324,768 tonnes of pulp and paper sold (+ 2.4%), 28% were produced in the group’s own plants. The remainder was marketed for third party suppliers.
 
The operative result (EBIT) of EUR 94.2 million surpassed that of the previous year by 39.8%. A significant factor in this considerable rise was the positive cost effect derived from the favourable price trend for both raw materials and energy.
 
Apart from the locations in Laakirchen and Pöls, which for their part both stood out owing to the successful and extremely rapid solution of their damage-related problems, sales revenues were raised in nearly all of Heinzel Group’s subsidiaries. Sales at Estonian Cell, which in 2015 had record exports of around 174,000 tonnes, were up by 12.5% at EUR 68.7 million, while Wilfried Heinzel AG supplied eleven new markets and was able to increase its sales by 13.8% to EUR 516.5 million. Europapier achieved gains in all its product segments and improved its sales by 5.8% to EUR 512.1 million, and Bunzl & Biach once again closed a financial year in highly successful fashion with a record sales volume of 674,544 tonnes and sales of EUR 92.4 million, which represented growth of 6.2%.
 
Owing to the outage of the PM10, which lasted for several weeks, and a fall in sales prices Laakirchen Papier sales fell by 13.8% to EUR 234.1 million. Zellstoff Pöls AG sales were also 2.9% down on the previous year at EUR 184.2 million, but following the completion of repairs in record time, the company was already able to put its liquor recovery boiler back into operation in December 2015 and can therefore look to the future with optimism.

Important growth due to successful acquisitions

With the acquisition of Raubling Papier GmbH (formerly Mondi Raubling GmbH) and Chiemgau Recycling GmbH, which was concluded at the end of the year, Heinzel Group expanded its product portfolio to include the growing containerboard segment. Alfred H. Heinzel: “In view of the strong expansion in the packaging paper segment, this purchase represented a highly significant strategic step for Heinzel Group.” Accordingly, initial investments in the new location were agreed only a few days after the integration of the companies into Heinzel Group.
 
As a result of the integration of the Raubling location, Heinzel Group sales will increase by some EUR 100 million and paper production capacity by 200,000 tonnes annually. Moreover, in order to further consolidate the group’s global role, additional takeovers are not excluded and investments totalling EUR 150 million are planned at the three production locations in Pöls, Laakirchen and Kunda.

A handover in Heinzel Group

As already announced, on 31 March Alfred H. Heinzel concluded his activities as CEO and moved to the Heinzel Holding Supervisory Board as its president.
 
Alfred H. Heinzel’s successor, Kurt Maier, who was previously the long-term CEO of the group’s Zellstoff Pöls AG, sees his new appointment as follows: “Not least due to its clear ownership structure, Heinzel Group is a dynamic enterprise in which we do not merely administer, but also design. I greatly enjoyed doing precisely this in my years at Pöls and look forward to a repeat in Heinzel Holding.”

More detailed information regarding the 2015 financial year can be obtained from the Heinzel Group Annual Report at www.heinzel.com/en/investor-relations/annual-report-2015/

About Heinzel Group

With its industrial locations Zellstoff Pöls AG (Austria), Laakirchen Papier AG (Austria), Raubling Papier GmbH (Germany) and AS Estonian Cell (Estonia), Heinzel Group, which is united under the Heinzel Holding umbrella, ranks among the largest producers of market pulp and magazine paper in Central and Eastern Europe. Since the beginning of 2016, containerboard has also belonged to the group’s range.
 
The group’s Trading Business Area includes Wilfried Heinzel AG, a globally active pulp, paper and board trading company, and Europapier International AG, the leading paper merchant in Central and Eastern Europe. In addition, Bunzl & Biach GmbH is the largest and most important waste paper company in Austria and the leading wholesaler in Central and Eastern Europe. The Heinzel Group’s successful growth is based on the fulfilment of the highest customer demands with regard to quality and efficiency.

For enquiries, please contact

Kurt Maier
Tel. +43-1-260 11-401
office@heinzel.com
 
Heinzel Holding GmbH
Wagramer Strasse 28–30
1223 Vienna
Austria
www.heinzel.com

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