Utenos trikotažas, a leading knit goods manufacturer in Central and Eastern Europe, has reported a pre-tax profit of EUR 1.2 million in 2016, compared with a pre-tax loss of EUR 0.3 million in 2015. The group’s EBITDA amounted to EUR 2.2 million in 2016, up from EUR 1.0 million in 2015. The Utenos trikotažas group is comprised of companies Utenos trikotažas, Šatrija, Gotija and Mrija (Ukraine). The group is part of the SBA concern.

AB Utenos trikotažas posted a pre-tax profit of EUR 0.7 million for 2016, versus a pre-tax loss of EUR 0.2 million in 2015. The company’s EBITDA made up EUR 1.4 million, a three-fold rise from EUR 0.5 million in 2015.

The group’s consolidated sales grew by 20.4%, year-on-year, to reach EUR 22.8 million in 2016. The sales of Utenos trikotažas for the previous year amounted to EUR 19.6 million, up from EUR 16.0 million in 2015.

Business volumes

The main reason for the improvement in the profitability indicators is a significant increase in the business volumes of the company and the group, the company reports. Šatrija contributed to the performance of the group with a 16% growth of sales and a pre-tax profit of EUR 0.4 million. The sales volume of Utenos trikotažas went up by 22.5% in 2016.

Growth was achieved in all major sales regions: German-speaking countries (Germany, Austria, Switzerland (DACH), Scandinavia (Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland), Lithuania and elsewhere.

The largest – DACH – region grew by 6.2%, generating 42.9% of the company’s sales. The acquisition of new customers resulted in a 44.8% rise in sales in Scandinavia, with the region’s sales accounting for 26.2% of the company’s sales. Encouraged by the sales of products manufactured under own brands (UTENOS and ABOUT), as well as products manufactured on demand of other clients, the sales volume in Lithuania went up by 54.3%. Sales in Lithuania accounted for 21.9% of the company’s total sales volume.

Double-digit sales growth

“We expect to maintain double-digit sales growth in 2017. Developing new innovative materials remains one of the main priorities of the company. In addition, this year Utenos trikotažas has joined the Detox campaign initiated by Greenpeace, thus affirming its commitment to environmentally-friendly and clean production. Our customers show an increasing interest in the impact of products and manufacturing processes on the environment and humans, therefore there's a strong focus on this area in our strategy too,” said Algirdas ŠabÅ«nas, CEO at Utenos trikotažas.

“The attraction of new customers and the sales development of own brands should become the key drivers for further growth. Rebranded last year, the UTENOS brand has attracted considerable attention from partners and customers in the Lithuanian market. We expect that the development of new shops that started at the end of last year will further increase the availability of our products and will contribute to sales growth this year.”

Utenos trikotažas

Utenos trikotažas is the largest and one of the leading knit goods manufacturers in Central and Eastern Europe. The Utenos trikotažas group of companies, which also comprises Šatrija, Gotija and Mrija (Ukraine), is part of the SBA concern.

In the first three quarters of 2016, the sales of the Utenos trikotažas group of companies amounted to EUR 16.7 million and the group earned EUR 994,000 in operating profit. Utenos trikotažas currently owns the Utenos and About retail trade marks.

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