NEWS


Plast 2021 exhibition postponed


Organisers of Italy’s triennial Plast trade show have announced that the 2021 show has been postponed due to the ongoing Covid pandemic and its likely limitations on travel. A new date is yet to be set for the event, which was originally set to run at the Fiera-Milano fairground in Milan on 4-7 May, then re-scheduled to 22-25 June. However, the organis- ers said in a statement it will be “certainly after the end of 2021”. The previous edition of


the trade fair took place in 2018. It included 1,510 exhibitors across six halls at the Fiera Milano showground and attracted more than 50,000 visitors. � www.plastonline.org


Uponor bounces back with improved results


Uponor, the Finnish pipe manufacturer, turned around both sales and profits in 2020.


Net sales for the year


were around €1.14bn (US$1.38bn), a rise of 3%. Comparable operating profit was nearly €143m (US$173m), a rise of nearly 54% compared to 2019. Building solutions in


Europe saw a 2% rise in sales and a huge 43% boost in profitability, while the same division in North America saw rises of more than 3% and 30%, respectively. The company’s infrastructure division raised sales by more than 3%, and profitability by more than 75%. “After a slowdown at the


start of the pandemic, demand for our offering remained at a good level


Luomakoski: “After a slow- down at the start of the pandemic, demand for our offering remained at a good level”


and a number of favourable drivers – including cost improvements partly triggered by Covid-19 – supported our profitability development,” said Jyri Luomakoski, president and CEO of Uponor.


Orbia extrusion divisions see sales decline despite positive Q4 result


Orbia, the Mexican chemi- cals company, reported reduced overall sales in 2020 – which was reflected in the results of its three extrusion businesses. The company said that while overall sales fell 8% to around US$6.4 billion, results in the fourth quarter were up by 6%, driven by “strong PVC prices in Vestolit and continuous demand recovery in Wavin and Dura-Line”. Full-year sales fell in each of its three extrusion


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divisions – Netherlands- based pipe extruder Wavin, US conduit maker Dura-Line and Israeli pipe irrigation company Netafim. At Wavin, sales fell 8% to around US$2.1bn, due mainly to Covid-related effects in Q2. Dura-Line saw full-year results shrink by 2% (to US$732m), which it said was due to a number of project delays in various regions. Netafim’s sales fell 9% to US$972m in 2020, which the company also blamed on the effects of Covid.


PIPE & PROFILE EXTRUSION | March 2021


Despite decreased sales, both Netafim and Dura-Line reported flat or positive prof- itability. All three companies also reported flat – or improved – sales in Q4. “Wavin experienced continued recovery in both EMEA and Latin America, despite traditionally low seasonality in the fourth quarter,” said the company. “Dura-Line top-line improve- ment was driven by higher demand in the USA and Canada.” � www.orbia.com


In Q4, sales grew more than 4% to more than €280m (US$339m), while comparable operating profit rose 26% to around €27m (US$33m). Uponor expects trends seen during Q4 to continue into the first quarter of 2021. Excluding currency effects, the company expects net sales to stay at the level of the year 2020 – that is, within a range of 2.5%. It expects comparable operating profit to decrease compared to 2020, but the comparable operating profit margin to remain above 10%. n Jyri Luomakoski, who has been president and CEO of Uponor for 12 is to leave the company later this year. He will continue in his role until August 2021. � www.uponor.com


Eurocell expects 8% fall


UK-based Eurocell says it expects full-year results to be “ahead of expectations” for 2020. Sales for the second half of the year rose 15%, which offset losses of 8% for the first half of the year. Overall, the company estimates full-year sales of £257 million (US$358m), a fall of 8%. Eurocell will confirm its full-year results later this month. � www.eurocell.co.uk


www.pipeandprofile.com


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