Both the major business divisions of plastics processor Röchling (Mannheim / Germany; www.roechling.de) recorded further growth in the last financial year. The group’s sales revenue amounted to EUR 1.36 bn, which was an increase of 6.4%. For the first time, Röchling’s president and CEO, Georg Duffner, also presented the earnings figures: EBIT was up 14.2% compared with the previous year to EUR 102.9m.

Röchling has also enjoyed a successful start to 2015: Compared to the previous year's first quarter, the group grew sales by 11.9% in the first quarter of this year to EUR 378.2m, including the recent acquisitions.

The company’s two divisions, High-Performance Plastics and Automotive Plastics, contributed equally to sales growth – each increasing sales by 6.4 percent. High-Performance Plastics posted sales of EUR 678.2m without the two most recent acquisitions, Insoll and Fibracon, which changed ownership at the end of 2014 (see Plasteurope.com of 23.12.2014). Investments in this division increased by a good third, while those in Automotive Plastics declined by 11%.

With automotive parts such as air intake and air flap systems as well as underbody covers, Röchling’s Automotive Plastics division lifted sales to EUR 686.3m. The intention here is to restructure the portfolio by 2019 and to raise the division’s sales to near the billion euro mark. Greater priority will be given to air flap systems in the engine compartment, underbody parts and components for exhaust gas systems, while reduced emphasis will be given, for example, to interior trim.

The main investments here include the two new automotive supply plants in Silao, Mexico, and Shenyang (Liaoning / China). Silao, where Röchling aims to start up production before the end of the year, is evidently turning out to be a centre for automotive construction: at the end of 2014, the ZKW Group (Wiener Neustadt / Austria; www.zkw-group.com), which is specialised in LED headlamp systems, also laid the foundation stone there for a new plant. Röchling reported, among other things, the receipt of a first big order for intake manifolds from GM in Brazil as well as orders for coolant containers and air flap systems from Tesla. The plant in Shenyang is due to follow in 2016. This will be the fifth production facility in China and will probably be tasked among other things with supplying parts to BMW/Brilliance at the site.

Medical technology – which was recently expanded with the purchase of HPT Hochwertige Pharmatechnik (Neuhaus am Rennweg / Germany; www.hpt.info) is now doing well with sales of EUR 115m, although there are no comparative figures from the previous year.