In 2008, Quadrant (Zurich / Switzerland; www.quadrant.ch) was unable to offset the impact of the financial crisis and the strength of the Swiss franc through its broadly diversified regional, sector and customer structure, which has proven effective at smoothing fluctuations in performance in the past. The manufacturer of finished and semi-finished high-performance thermoplastic parts saw sales drop 10% to CHF 773m (around EUR 511m) while EBIT was halved to CHF 65m. There was an even greater drop in net profit to just CHF 11m, down from CHF 40m in 2007.

In its largest division, High-Performance Plastics, sales fell 8% to CHF 608m (CHF 664m in 2007) and EBIT plummeted to CHF 25m (CHF 56m in 2007). The Plastic Composites and Pipes division reported a 15% drop in sales to CHF 125m, while EBIT contracted to CHF 2.3m (CHF 5.5m in 2007).

The regional sales split was unchanged from 2007. Europe accounts for 52% of sales, America for 33%, Asia for 11% and Africa & Australia for the remaining 4%. A substantial reduction in sales was registered in all regions. As expected, the largest decline was in America, where sales shrank by CHF 36.7m to CHF 243m. In Europe sales fell by CHF 35m to CHF 379m.

Quadrant does not expect to generate growth this year due to the “very delicate economic parameters.” Given the low level of capacity utilisation, its guidance is that “at best” the EBITDA margin will remain unchanged year-on-year. The only slight glimmer of hope is that some market players see signs that the situation could pick up in the second half of the year. Quadrant adjusts investment spending to business performance so overall investment in 2009 is likely to be far lower than in 2008.

e-Service:
Quadrant’s 2008 annual report as a PDF document (819 KB)