Hexpol reports declines in sales, earnings for 2024

Malmo, Sweden – Hexpol AB has posted a decline in full-year sales and adjusted earnings (adjusted EBITDA) for 2024, citing lower demand and higher costs.

Adjusted earnings for the 12-month period were down 10.5% year-on-year at SEK3.4 billion (€296 million), on 7.3% lower sales of SEK22.0 billion, Hexpol reported 28 Jan.

Hexpol linked the dip in sales to a SEK95-million exchange-rate impact, partially offset by a 1% gain from its acquisitions of Star Thermoplastics and Piedmont earlier in the year.

Full-year sales at the Swedish group's Compounding business area’s amounted to SEK19 billion, down 8% year-on-year.

Here, Hexpol said sales to automotive-related customers were affected by lower production rates within automotive industry.

In the second half of the year, Hexpol said it increased sales to customers within the building & construction sector.

Compared to 2023, prices decreased, driven by lower raw material costs, though pricing remained stable in the final quarter of the year.

At Hexpol Engineered Products, sales increased by 3% during the year to SEK1.5 billion, with operations in Europe and Asia ‘developing positively during the period.’

Regionally, Hexpol group sales increased in Asia by 5% year-on-year, while in 'America', revenue dropped 10%, due in part to early Christmas holidays.

In Europe, the rubber compounds group reported a 5% year-on-year sales decline in 2024.

Commenting on the full-year performance, president and CEO Klas Dahlberg said Hexpol was continuously assessing its production efficiency and cost level.

To improve efficiency, the group has announced plans to close operations in Kennedale, Texas and move production to other Hexpol sites in the US.

Hexpol has also sold a smaller business in Muscle Shoals, Alabama which, it said, supplied products outside of the group's core business areas.

Work, continued Dahlberg, is currently “underway to review the conditions for organic growth in our various markets.”

“We maintain our focus on acquisitions and view the market positively,” Hexpol's leader concluded.