NEWS
Georg Fischer sales dip 14% despite “resilient” pipe market
Georg Fischer says that a “resilient” pipes market helped it to limit its sales decline to around 14% in 2020. Overall, the company’s sales fell to CHF3.2 billionn (US$3.4bn) in 2020. At the same time, profitability (EBIT) declined by 30% to CHF166m (US$176m).
Sales in the piping systems division declined by just over 5%, to exceed CHF1.7bn (US$1.8bn). The company said that “negative currency effects” pulled sales down by CHF103m (US$109m)”. Profitability (EBIT) dipped 10% to CHF193m (US$205m).
Pexco buys into fluoro- polymers
North American plastics extruder Pexco has acquired Altaflo, a pro- ducer of fluoropolymer extrusions for a variety of industries.
Altaflo has a reputation for developing fluid handling solutions for aggressive applications, delivering high purity levels. “The acquisition of
Altaflo expands our high-performance polymer capabilities and technical expertise and brings a proprietary suite of highly sought after branded products,” said Sam Patel, CEO of Pexco. The purchase of Altaflo
is Pexco’s eighth acquisi- tion under the ownership of AEA Investors. �
www.pexco.com
www.pipeandprofile.com
Sales were also strong in Asia – espe- cially in China, Korea and Japan – while in the Americas, sales were affected by low activity in the utility business. GF Piping Systems has also contin-
ued to expand its global presence. In South America, it acquired FGS, a piping systems manufacturer based in Cajamar. With two production sites now in the country – and an existing partnership – GF Piping Systems says it can “benefit not only from the government initiative to improve water and gas distribution across Brazil, but also from growth opportunities in neighbouring markets”.
The company reported a recovery in the second half of 2020 – and particu- larly in the final quarter. “We are well positioned to continue
our recovery trend in 2021, building on the positive momentum of the last quarter of 2020,” said the company. “The current year already saw a good order intake and a promising rebound in key markets, especially in China.” The company expects sales growth in the “mid to high single digits”, plus an increase in profitability “barring unforeseen circumstances”. �
www.georgfischer.com
VinylPlus Med targets PVC recycling in hospital sector
A new project called VinylPlus Med is bringing together hospitals, waste managers and recyclers across Europe to increase recycling of single-use PVC medical devices. The collaborative project is led by VinylPlus, the European PVC industry’s voluntary commitment platform. The project will focus on
sorting and recycling of non-infectious PVC waste and builds on the success of the VinylPlus-funded RecoMed recycling scheme for PVC masks and tubing. “Starting with a pilot project in Belgium, we are excited to make medical plastics more circular together with our partners,” said Brigitte Dero, Managing Director of VinylPlus. The Belgian project is a
partnership with the Europe
Above: VinylPlus Med will recycled single-use medical devices such as dialysis bags
Hospitals group in Brussels and will focus on high-quali- ty PVC waste of three dialysis facilities. Partners also include Renewi waste management group and PVC recycler Raff Plastics based in Houthulst in western Belgium.
All Belgian VinylPlus Med
partners are located within a radius of 120 km to mini- mise transport distances and mitigate the project’s carbon footprint. �
www.vinylplus.eu �
www.renewi.com �
www.raffplastics.be
April 2021 | PIPE & PROFILE EXTRUSION 5
IMAGE: SHUTTERSTOCK
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46
