Granitifiandre reports nine months of growth

Nov 14, 2006

14/11/06 - The Granitifiandre board of directors has announced positive results for the group’s performance during the first nine months of the year.

The Group headquartered in Castellarano (province of Reggio Emilia, Italy) reported revenues of 148.4 million euro to 30 September, 14% up on the 130.2 million euro of the first nine months of 2005. EBITDA has also increased (up 5.9% to 20.8 million euro), although profit margins continue to be affected by the start-up costs of StonePeak, by the abnormal rise in energy costs (+22%) and by the unfavourable trend in the euro/dollar exchange rate.

Growth is being driven by overseas sales (+26.9%), especially in the two most important markets for StonePeak products, the United States and Canada, which have registered increases of 32% and 18% respectively.
The group also performed strongly in European markets (+12.8%) with particularly good results in Germany (+12%), Russia (+80%), Romania (+35%), Sweden (+23%), Eire (+71%), Ukraine (+35%), France (+17%) and Spain (+33%).

The net financial position of -45.8 million euro has improved compared to the -49.5 million euro of 30 June due to the positive cash flow generated in the third quarter (3.6 million euro).
A further positive factor was the start-up performance of StonePeak, which reached and passed the quarterly break-even point in terms of EBITDA with a value of 0.7 million euro against a turnover to 30 September of 20.7 million euro.

New orders

Following recent openings in Paris (with the Saint Gobain Group), Shanghai, Puerto Rico, Faenza, Strasburg and Bari, a total of 70 Geologica brand stores are now operating worldwide.
New stores are soon due to open in Miami, Doha and Guadalajara in Mexico.
Some of the most prestigious supply contracts secured in recent months include orders for the Ferrari Training Centre in Maranello and the Ducati Designing Store in Bologna, as well as agreements with the Konmar distributio

n chain (Royal Ahold Group) to a total value of approximately 1 million euro. Another important contract in the overseas market is the order for the San Juan airport terminal in Puerto Rico worth approximately USD 380,000.