Gurit has reported stable net sales of CHF 352 million for the full year 2016. Gurit`s Composite Materials Business achieved mixed results in its various market areas. In Wind, it suffered from the decline in newly installed wind capacity in China of 24% compared to the. Net sales to the wind energy market declined by 4.1% to CHF 149.0 million.
Material supply to other material markets slightly declined by 1.6 %. In total, net sales in the Composite Materials Business decreased by 3.0% year-on-year from CHF 274.0 million in 2015 to CHF 265.6 million in 2016. Gurit`s Composite Components Business showed the anticipated drop in sales and declined by 34.3% from CHF 26.4 million in 2015 to CHF 17.3 million in 2016. Gurit`s Tooling Business was able to report yet another record year. Less prone to the cyclicality of newly installed wind capacity and benefiting from the continued pre-investment in longer wind blade moulds, net sales increased by 16.9% to CHF 69.0 million in 2016 compared to net sales of CHF 59.0 million in 2015. Gurit achieved an operating profit of CHF 36.8 million in 2016. The operating profit margin improved from 9.2% in 2015 to 10.5% in 2016. Gurit reports a net profit of CHF 26.0 million in 2016 (2015: CHF 22.6 million). Gurit currently estimates that the company will continue to grow on a low single-digit level in 2017. In terms of profitability, the company strive to further substantiate its mid-term target of 8 –10% operating profit margin.
