Sales down and prices up at Balta
May 13, 2021
One of Europe's biggest carpet makers has confirmed price increases may have to continue amid depressed sales and supply chain issues.
The turbulence in the market is exposed in the first quarter results of Belgian conglomerate Balta which reported declines of 8.2% in residential sales and 19.5% in its commercial business in the three months to March 2021.
Helped by stronger rug sales, overall sales were down 4.5% to €152.6 million in the quarter, with almost a third of the reported drop down to negative currency movements.
Balta, a major importer into the UK, cited "significant" cost pressures on raw materials and transportation as the reason behind its price increase which have been implemented across all its divisions and have suggested there may be more to come.
"We remain vigilant given this cost price development and, in some cases, shortages of material and containers, and will introduce additional price increases where and when necessary," said CEO Cyrille Ragoucy.
However, Balta said a recovery from the COVID-19 related downturn in 2020 was continuing in Q1 2021, delivering a significant improvement in profits and margin versus Q1 2020
"Trading in the first quarter of 2021 reflected similar characteristics to Q4 2020. All our key markets and divisions continued to experience COVID-19 restrictions. We expect the Group’s revenues will recover to more normal levels as vaccination programmes take effect, although the macroeconomic situation remains uncertain," said Mr Ragoucy.
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