Panaria reports good margins in first quarter

Panariagroup reported good levels of operating margins and profitability in the first quarter of 2008, in line with the same period in 2007.

The contraction of the US market due to the difficult economic situation was offset by the stability of European markets and major growth in emerging markets, particularly Russia, Poland, Cyprus and Israel.
Consolidated turnover amounted to 85.8 million euro compared to 92.6 million euro in 2007.
Europe, which accounts for 44% of total turnover, saw an excellent performance in the French market (+8.9%) but a slowdown in Germany (-13.2%). The Portuguese Business Unit reported good profitability.
With a total turnover of 28.3 million euro, Italy saw a fall over the same period in 2007 (-7%) due to a widespread climate of caution in the property market.
Turnover in the US market (19% of total turnover) fell by 15.22% in terms of dollars and by 24.6% in euro.

Operating margins remained strong in line with the first quarter of last year. EBITDA amounted to 12.1 million euro (compared to 13 million euro in 2007) and EBIT 7.3 million euro (8.7 million euro in 2007), resulting in net profits of 3 million euro (4.1 million euro in the same quarter of 2007).