Perlen Packaging (Perlen / Switzerland; www.perlenpackaging.com), the packaging division of Chemie + Papier Holding (CPH, Perlen; www.cph.ch), achieved record earnings and sales in 2020, boosted by higher demand for pharmaceutical blister packs as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. Operating profit was CHF 21.6m (EUR 19.5m), a jump of 25.3% versus 2019 on sales of CHF 162.3m, up 5.9%, or 10.7% higher, excluding currency factors. Buoyed by low raw-material costs in the first half of 2020, the division also increased its annual operating profit margin to a new record of 13.3%.

The company’s European plants – located at its headquarters and in Mülheim / Germany – ran at full capacity in 2020, while output in China was expanded. Perlen said it became clear as early as February 2020 that its European capacities for medium-barrier duplex films might become stretched, and orders subsequently doubled in the following two months. As a result, the company established a new supply chain sourcing from Suzhou, Jiangsu / China, where capacity was ramped up from May 2020 onwards.

“In record time, we were able to establish a second duplex film supply line for our customers worldwide and thereby enhance both our delivery reliability and our own flexibility,” said Lars Kirchhoff, Perlen Packaging’s chief sales officer. The packaging division wants to gain greater penetration in emerging pharmaceutical markets and is planning to invest a “high single-digit-million franc” sum in a new polyvinylidene chloride (PVdC) film coating plant at its site in Anápolis / Brazil (see Plasteurope.com of 16.09.2020).

For 2021, the division’s aim is to realise above-average growth, especially in the Asian and Latin American markets, and it expects to report a slight further increase in net sales. However, the business cautioned that operating profit this year is unlikely to match 2020’s “exceptional” level.

While the packaging business had an exemplary year in 2020, the rest of CPH’s business suffered. The chemistry division improved profitability despite a decline in net sales, but a steep fall in demand in West European paper markets dragged the group’s total net sales down 15.1% to CHF 445.2m. Group operating profit plunged 56.4% to CHF 24.7m, but thanks to non-recurring income of CHF 25.9m, the net result was boosted to CHF 47m, roughly at the level seen in 2019.