Marazzi continues its strong performance

Marazzi Group has closed 2007 with an increase in revenues and profits.
The year's sales reached 984 million euro (up 2.1% on 2006), albeit with an uneven pattern of growth between the various Business Units. Russia is in first place with 26.1% growth, followed by strong performances in Italy (+2.4%) and in Spain (+9.2%), while the French BU saw a slight (6.3%) fall due to the slowdown in production caused by the strikes in June.
Due to the slowdown in the US building sector and the consequent contraction of the ceramic tile market, sales of the USA BU (which also includes BU China) have also fallen by 3.5% in dollars (-11.6% in euro). However, profitability remains higher than the Group average (19%) due to market shares secured by the greater competitiveness of domestic products over imported products.

EBITDA dropped by 2.9% compared to 2006 to reach 174.3 million euro. EBIT on the other hand performed strongly to reach 61.8 million euro (compared to 59.1 million euro in 2006), up by 1.1%.

In spite of the worsening financial management, net profits rose significantly (+4.5%) to 61.8 million euro compared to 59.1 million euro in 2006. The strong profits allowed dividend per share to be increased by 0.24 euro per share (4.3% up on 2006).