Scapa made a positive start to its financial year

Date published: 29 July 2010

Scapa based at Ashton under Lyne, an adhesive tapes and film maker, said it had made a positive start to its financial year, with sales in the first quarter up 10 per cent against a weak corresponding period in 2009.

Chief executive Heejae Chae, said it had seen strong performances in industrial and medical markets between April and the end of June.

North America in particular has continued to improve as the economy shows signs of recovery.

In a statement to shareholders, Scapa said ‘it was pleased with the positive start to the year. The emphasis on key market segments is beginning to yield positive results. In particular, we have seen the pipeline for Medical and Electronics building with new opportunities and market leading applications. Whilst our order book has increased during the first quarter, we have limited visibility for the remainder of the year. We remain cautiously optimistic for the year given the global economic uncertainty’.

‘Trading during the first quarter has maintained the positive momentum we experienced at the end of the last fiscal year. As a result, sales for Quarter 1 were up approximately 10% against a weak corresponding period last year. We have seen strong performances across market segments, particularly in Industrial and Medical. From a regional perspective, North America has continued to improve, aided by underlying recovery in the economy and orders accelerated by the closure of our Carlstadt facility. Asia and Europe are sustaining the revenue level achieved in the fourth quarter as we focus on quality of revenue’.

‘The increased volume and reduced cost base will further improve our profitability which is a key deliverable for the year. Additionally, emphasis has been placed on product profitability through portfolio rationalisation and margin control given significant increase in certain material costs’.