Net sales for the first three months of the year increased by 5.4% against the prior-year period.
Gurit Composite Materials achieved net sales of CHF 62.9 million for the first quarter of 2018. This represents a decrease of 6.8% compared to net sales of CHF 67.4 million for the first three months of 2017. The decline results from the continued low material demand level in the wind energy industries in India and China. Sales to other material markets, mainly marine and industrial, rose by 6% compared to Q1-2017 and amounted to CHF 33.2 million for the first three months of 2018.
Gurit Composite Components revenues declined slightly as a consequence of temporarily lower build rates in one of the existing programs and the time gap until the start of volume production of new projects. Net sales amounted to CHF 4.5 million for the first quarter of 2018 versus CHF 4.8 million in the first quarter of 2017.
Gurit Tooling delivered another strong quarter with net sales increasing by 62.9% to CHF 24.7 million in Q1-2018 compared to net sales of CHF 15.2 million in the first quarter of 2017. The strong performance results from the continued high demand for new and larger wind blade moulds for the production of increasingly efficient wind turbines.
