From the Sector

• Sales increase of 10.7% to €549.8 million in the first half of 2022
• EBITDApre improves by 22.6%, higher than the increase in sales, to €87.9 million
• Positive business development, price increases and strict cost management led to forecast increase on June 7, 2022

Despite uncertain general conditions in the first six months 2022, SGL Carbon's business model is proving its resilience. After €270.9 million in Q1 2022, SGL Carbon was able to increase sales to €278.9 million in Q2. Accordingly, sales for the first half of 2022 amount to €549.8 million, which corresponds to a sales plus of €53.1 million or 10.7% compared to the same period of the previous year.

The increase in sales was driven in particular by customers in the semiconductor industry and growth in the industrial applications market segment. Demand from the automotive and chemical industries was also encouraging.

EBITDApre, as one of the Group's key performance indicators, improved by €16.2 million (+22.6%) to €87.9 million (H1 2021: €71.7 million). Consequently, the EBITDApre margin increased from 14.4% to 16.0%. In addition to the higher utilization of production capacities due to higher sales, the improvement in earnings was also driven by the largely successful passing-on of higher raw material and energy costs to customers as well as savings from the transformation program.

EBITDApre does not include positive one-off effects and non-recurring items totaling €10.6 million (H1 2021: minus €5.2 million). As a result, EBIT in H1 2022 increased significantly from €38.3 million to €69.6 million. Taking into account the financial result of minus €16.6 million (H1 2021: minus €14.0 million), consolidated net income for the first six months of the current fiscal year amounted to €48.8 million, compared to €17.9 million in the prior-year period.

Business Units
With an increase in sales of €22.2 million (+10.0%) to €243.4 million, the Graphite Solutions (GS) business unit made a major contribution to SGL Carbon’s sales growth. In particular, continued high demand from customers in the semiconductor sector, which represents approximately one third of the segment's sales, led to the positive business development in GS. As a result of the predominantly high-margin business, EBITDApre at GS improved by 22.7% to €54.0 million.

The Process Technology (PT) business unit benefited from the good order situation in the chemical industry in H1 2022 and consequently increased sales to €49.2 million (H1 2021: € 40.8 million). EBITDApre also improved from €0.1 million in the prior year’s first half to €4.1 million in H1 2022.

The Carbon Fibers (CF) business unit benefited in the 1st half 2022 from final deliveries to a major automotive manufacturer whose contract expired as scheduled on June 30, 2022. Segment sales increased by 5.8% year-on-year to €176.0 million. In contrast, EBITDApre at CF decreased by €4.2 million to €28.2 million despite the good order situation and successful price increases. It should be noted that CF was impacted by a special effect from energy derivatives for price hedging in the amount of €9.2 million in the first quarter of 2022.

With an increase in sales of 15.6% to €69.6 million, the Composite Solutions (CS) business unit continued its upward trend. The specialist for customized component solutions for the automotive industry improved its EBITDApre from €5.7 million in the first half of 2021 to the current €9.7 million, based in particular on price and volume effects.

Balance sheet figures
Working capital rose by 11.7% to €381.1 million as of June 30, 2022. This was mainly due to higher inventories (€ +73.9 million) and an offsetting increase in trade payables (€ +29.0 million). A targeted build-up of inventories in critical raw materials due to disruptions in transport routes and the recent Covid lockdown in Shanghai were some of the reasons for the higher inventory levels.

SGL Carbon's net financial debt slightly increased by €6.6 million to €212.9 million as of June 30, 2022 (Dec. 31, 2021: €206.3 million), which was due to a lower free cash flow of €7.5 million for H1 2022 (H1 2021: €56.6 million).

Guidance increase
On June 7, 2022, SGL Carbon raised its sales and earnings guidance for fiscal year 2022. The company now expects sales of €1.1 billion (previously: around €1.0 billion) and EBITDApre of €130 - 150 million (previously: €110 - 130 million). Based on the pleasing business development, realized price increases, a stringent cost management, and taking into account the currently known risks, SGL’s management expects to achieve the earnings forecast for 2022 at the upper end of the stated range.

Akzo Nobel N.V.  publishes results for second quarter 2022

Highlights Grow & Deliver (compared with Q2 2021)

• Revenue up 14% and 10% higher in constant currencies1, pricing up 16%
• ROS2 at 8.7% (2021: 13.3%), resulting from lower volumes and continued raw material and freight costs inflation
• Adjusted EBITDA at €337 million (2021: €419 million)
• Acquisition of Grupo Orbis completed in April 2022. Intended acquisition of Kansai Paint’s business in Africa announced in June 2022. Intended acquisition of the liquid wheel coatings business of Germany-based Lankwitzer Lackfabrik GmbH announced in July 2022

Highlights Q2 2022 (compared with Q2 2021)

• Pricing up 16%; offsetting the increase of raw material and other variable costs. Volumes 9% lower
• Operating income at €205 million (2021: €384 million), includes €44 million negative impact from Identified items (2021: €49 million net positive impact). OPI margin 7.2% (2021: 15.3%)
• Adjusted operating income3 at €249 million (2021: €335 million)
• Net cash from operating activities decreased to negative €52 million (2021: positive €168 million)
• Net income attributable to shareholders at €106 million (2021: €261 million)
• EPS from total operations at €0.60 (2021: €1.40); adjusted EPS from continuing operations at €0.84 (2021: €1.20)

International technology group ANDRITZ has received an order from Yanpai Filtration Technology Co., Ltd. (YANPAI®), China, to supply batt forming equipment with an aXcess card and crosslapper for a needlepunch line producing PTFE filtration products at its site in Tiantai. The PTFE felts will be used as smoke filters in waste incineration plants. Start-up of the line is planned for the second half of 2022.

Yanpai is one of the leading Chinese producers of nonwoven filters for dust and air treatment and of woven filter fabrics used in solid/liquid separation. Established in 1990, Yanpai was at the forefront of development work on new industrial filtration fabrics. Today, Yanpai is a company with facilities in China and the USA.

The European Pultrusion Technology Association (EPTA) has published a report from its latest conference, which focuses on advances in sustainability and recycling.

More than 130 professionals from the global pultrusion community gathered at the 16th World Pultrusion Conference in Paris on 5-6 May 2022. Organised by EPTA in collaboration with the American Composites Manufacturers Association (ACMA), the event featured 25 international speakers sharing insight on market trends, developments in materials, processing and simulation technologies, and innovative pultruded applications in key markets such as building and infrastructure, transportation and wind energy.

‘Bio-pultrusion’:  
Composites based on natural fibres offer a number of benefits, including low density and high specific strength, vibration damping, and heat insulation. The German Institutes for Textile and Fiber Research Denkendorf (DITF) are developing pultrusion processes using bio-based resins and natural fibres. Projects include the BioMat Pavilion at the University of Stuttgart, a lightweight structure which combines ‘bamboo-like’ natural fibre-based pultruded profiles with a tensile membrane.

Applications for recycled carbon fibre (rCF):
The use of rCF in composite components has the potential to reduce their cost and carbon footprint. However, it is currently used to a limited extent since manufacturers are uncertain about the technical performance of available rCF products, how to process them, and the actual benefits achievable. Fraunhofer IGCV is partnering with the Institute for Textile Technology (ITA) in the MAI ÖkoCaP project to investigate the technical, ecological and economic benefits of using rCF in different industrial applications. The results will be made available in a web-based app.

Circularity and recycling:
The European Composites Industry Association (EuCIA) is drafting a circularity roadmap for the composites industry. It has collaborated with the European Cement Association (CEMBUREAU) on a position paper for the EU Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) which outlines the benefits of co-processing end-of-life composites in cement manufacturing, a recycling solution that is compliant with the EU’s Waste Framework Directive and in commercial operation in Germany. Initial studies have indicated that co-processing with composites has the potential to reduce the global warming impact of cement manufacture by up to 16%. Technologies to allow recovery of fibre and/or resin from composites are in development but a better understanding of the life cycle assessment (LCA) impact of these processes is essential. EuCIA’s ‘circularity waterfall,’ a proposed priority system for composites circularity, highlights the continued need for co-processing.

Sustainability along the value chain:
Sustainability is essential for the long-term viability of businesses. Resin manufacturer AOC’s actions to improve sustainability include programmes to reduce energy, waste and greenhouse gas emissions from operations, the development of ‘greener’ and low VOC emission resins, ensuring compliance with chemicals legislation such as REACH, and involvement in EuCIA’s waste management initiatives. Its sustainable resins portfolio includes styrene-free and low-styrene formulations and products manufactured using bio-based raw materials and recycled PET.

With global consumers becoming more conscious about personal hygiene and environmental protection, exhibitors at Cinte Techtexil China will spotlight materials and technologies for products that respond to these trends. The fair will probe into the associated growth opportunities as the country is one of the leading markets for nonwovens and technical textiles. The event will be held from 6 – 8 September at the Shanghai New International Expo Centre.

The technical textiles and nonwovens industries, the latter notably, are significantly expanding amid the pandemic. A recent forecast[1] predicts that the global polypropylene nonwoven fabric market will continue to rise at a CAGR of 6.7%, reaching USD 39.23 billion by 2028. The anticipated growth is bolstered by demands in end-use industries such as sanitation, medical, automotive and more. In 2020, Asia Pacific was named the largest regional market in the world and is expected to grow significantly over the forecasted period.

The prediction reaffirms the growth prospects of nonwovens. In this regard, industry players expressed much optimism about associated future opportunities during Cinte Techtextil China last year. “The field of nonwovens is poised for a positive growth as the awareness of personal hygiene and pandemic prevention sustains in the domestic market,” commented Mr James Gao, Head of Marketing and Textile Technologies, Uster Technologies (China) Co Ltd. He added: “We decided to join the fair and showcase our new launches as we remain confident in the future development of the industry, especially since China is dominating the global scene.”

Going green is the way forward
Turning to yarns and fibres, the sector is shifting to greener and smarter production that echoes the trend towards sustainability that is gaining considerable traction across the globe. Meanwhile in China, this movement was observed by many exhibitors at the 2021 edition, including Mr Roberto Galante, Plant Manager of FMMG Technical Textiles (Suzhou) Co Ltd, the Chinese subsidiary of the Fil Man Made Group. He mentioned: “The market is paying more attention to environmental protection, and we receive enquiries about special yarns for this every day. We focus on technical yarns for filtration as well as anti-bacterial properties, which are very important for the environment. The potential here in China is incredible and this is a big opportunity for everybody.”

Cinte Techtextil China’s product categories cover 12 application areas, which comprehensively span across a full range of potential uses in modern technical textiles and nonwovens. These categories also cover the entire industry, from upstream technology and raw material providers to finished fabrics, chemicals and other solutions. This scope of product groups and application areas ensures that the fair is an effective business platform for the entire industry.

Cobra International, a leading manufacturer of advanced composite products for the watersports, automotive, marine, and industrial sectors, will highlight recent diversification into new composite markets at JEC World 2022, with exhibits ranging from VTOL drones to carbon fibre prosthetics.  Cobra will also demonstrate how it is working alongside automotive and water sports customers to further enhance the sustainability of products in these sectors.

High Volume Production Capacity for the UAV sector
Cobra will display a wing from the Swiftlet UAV. This compact tactical fixed wing UAV platform has a 5.5m wingspan and was developed by the Royal Thai Air Force and National Science and Technology Development Agency (NSTDA) for survey, monitoring and search and rescue operations. Cobra manufactured the 32kg Swiftlet composite airframe using a combination of CNC cut carbon sandwich internal structure and PVC foam sandwich skins using both high grade glass fibre and carbon fibre reinforcements.  

Sustainability Options for Automotive and Watersports
Sustainability has a been a key focus for the Cobra Waterports division and CAC, the Cobra automotive business unit. At JEC World 2022, Cobra will showcase the increasing material and process options it has developed with both bio-resin and natural fibre reinforcements variants presented alongside more traditional carbon fibre parts.

Visitors will be able to get up close to a new Bio SUP Wingfoil board featuring a basalt, flax, bamboo and GreenPoxy bio-epoxy construction created for partners NSP, as well as state-of-the-art compression moulded prepreg foils. Cobra’s first fully recyclable surfboard incorporating the Recyclamine® resin technology that Cobra was recognised for in the 2020 JEC Innovation Awards will also be on display alongside a new Audi e-tron foil by Aerofoils – the world’s safest electric hydrofoil board.

The CAC team (Automotive Business Unit of Cobra) will present a set of OEM mirror cap parts that showcase a range of carbon SMC, woven visual carbon, pure woven visual flax, hybrid flax-carbon and painted flax construction options for the same component.  Clear carbon aesthetic and structural parts including CAC made M-carbon components for the BMW S 1000 RR Motorcycle will furthermore underline the high quality and eye-for-detail for which CAC is renowned.

Carbon Prosthetics
An entirely new composite application for the company, Cobra will also show two composite prosthetic devices at JEC which were productionised by the in-house design and development team. Working alongside a leading Thai university and a medical device OEM, Cobra created a rapid and cost effective series production process for a lightweight carbon fibre prosthetic foot. In another example of lightweight composites creating major quality of life improvements, Cobra has also designed and manufactured a carbon and glass fibre prepreg foot support for Elysium Industries.

BB Engineering GmbH (Germany), a subsidiary of Oerlikon Textile, is pleased to announce that Thai Polyester Co., Ltd (Thailand) has placed a major order for four VacuFil systems for recycling bottle flakes with connected direct spinning. The polyester manufacturer, established in 2001 and with an overall annual capacity of 316,800 tons, is one of Thailand’s leading producers and exclusively uses German technology. To this end, the company already operates Oerlikon Barmag and Oerlikon Neumag systems. The BB Engineer-ing VacuFil systems will be deployed to convert existing spinning plant equipment from processing polyester to processing PET bottle flakes without loss of performance.

BB Engineering supplies the complete recycling process – from the drying stage and extrusion, all the way through to the spinning plant-appropriate fine filtration stage. Thanks to decades of experi-ence in spinning plant technology, the German machine construc-tor also provides comprehensive spinning plant know-how and is aware of how the recycling process must be designed to ensure that the product manufactured using the spinning plant ultimately has the right quality. The four new VacuFil systems will be integrated into the existing building infrastructure and process landscape at Thai Polyester, with a total output of approx. 4,000 kg/h. The Vacu-Fil systems will be complemented by BB Engineering 3DD mixers for directly feeding dyes into the recycled melt flow. Commissioning has been scheduled for 2023.

Thai Polyester will be using the new VacuFil systems to manufac-ture its ‘EcoTPC’ recycling-brand yarns. 100% of these polyester yarns are produced from bottle, fiber and yarn waste and are all GRS certified.

Sustainability has become a major trend in the global home textiles industry. It is more common nowadays to find natural and sustainable fibres in an extensive range of home furnishing products. From this angle, the Lenzing Group (Lenzing) will take led in a brand new pavilion at Intertextile Shanghai Home Textiles – Spring Edition. Lenzing is the world’s leading manufacturer of renewable specialty fibres, and will highlight the latest eco-friendly fibres that can meet the ever-rising sourcing demand. The fair is set to take place from 14 – 16 April 2022 at the National Exhibition and Convention Center (Shanghai).

As an upswing from the growing public awareness of environmental issues, consumers are now more willing to switch to sustainable products. According to a CottonWorks’ survey, 90% of the interviewed Chinese consumers want their home textiles to be environmentally friendly[1]. It also found that more consumers are paying attention to the fibre content that can deliver safe and sustainable home textiles.
Furthermore, the Chinese government’s ‘Outline Of the Development of the Textile Industry during the 14th Five Year Plan’, also encourages the acceleration of low cost, functional and sustainable renewable fibres in the local textile industry.

The Lenzing satellite pavilion: a one-stop platform for green home textile materials
To help home textile suppliers source a variety of eco-friendly materials efficiently, one of the fair’s long-time exhibitors is set to form a new pavilion at the upcoming Spring show. Lenzing, the Austrian brand widely known for its ecologically responsible production of specialty fibres made from renewable raw material wood, gathers seven of its local downstream supply chain manufacturers to showcase their renewable products.

Mr David Dai, Senior Commercial Director Textile China of Lenzing spoked about why they decided to organise a new pavilion at the show: “As we received positive feedback from our pavilion at Intertextile Shanghai Apparel Fabrics, our business partners from the home textile supply chain were hoping for a similar arrangement in this sector. We believe all the participating manufacturers can benefit from this pavilion by finding ways to better serve their clients and consumers.”

Brands in the Lenzing satellite pavilion will include:
•    Lenzing Group will introduce the first Carbon-zero TENCEL™ fibres which are CarbonNeutral™ certified products by Natural Capital Partner.
•    Botou Jinglun Textiles Co Ltd focuses on new fibre yarns. The company develops multi-component yarns for cotton, wool, silk and linen with combinations of MODAL, TENCEL™ fibres and various functional materials.
•    Fujian Yongtai County Huaerjin Textile Co Ltd provides high-quality, natural, renewable pure and blended yarns including TENCEL™ fibres, US cotton, Australian cotton, acrylic cotton, silk and other plant-based yarns.
•    Jiangsu Dasheng Group Co Ltd has one of the largest cellulosic fibre yarn spinning mills in China and focuses on producing top-quality home textiles.
•    Qingdao Textiles Group produces natural fibres, cellulose fibres, copper antimicrobial fibres and other nature-based materials for home and contract textiles.
•    Suzhou Zhenlun Spinning Co Ltd is an advanced enterprise specialising in regenerated cellulose yarns like ECO VERO, FSC Viscose, Circulose, Carbon Zero Yarn and more.
•    Ton Design Industrial Co Ltd produces medium and high-end bedding fabrics. The brand’s TENCEL™ Lyocell fibres and TENCEL™ fibres blend cotton series products are certified by Lenzing.
•    Wuxi Tianmu Extra Width Printing Dyeing Co Ltd mainly produces extra-wide, high-count and high-density down-proof fabrics and fabrics for bedding. The technique can handle different procedures for dealing with pure cotton, bamboo fibres, TENCEL™ fibres and other fibre fabrics.

In addition to the new pavilion, a number of other featured exhibitors will also showcase their sustainable products at the fair. This includes Cotton Council International (CCI) promoting US cotton fibres and cotton products, and Zhangjiagang Coolist Life Technology Co Ltd bringing their unique bedding products made from organic and environmental-friendly materials.

Sicomin supported the build of Dubai’s Museum of the Future and supplied its bio-based intumescent gelcoat as well as fire-retardant laminating resins for the production of over 200 double curved panels making up the interior of the Museum’s entrance lobby.

The Museum of the Future, a new addition to Dubai’s skyline by architects Killa Design, engineers Buro Happold and contractor BAM International, opened last week on 22nd February 2022 and features a large percentage of composite materials in the interior construction.

Advanced Fiberglass Industries (AFI) manufactured 230 double curved interior panels, a double-helix DNA structure staircase that scales the full seven levels of the museum and 228 GRP oval shaped light structures for the museums car parking area.

Adaptable mould technology from Danish company Adapa, was introduced by Advanced Fiberglass Industries, Dubai (AFI) to ensure that the interior panels could be delivered in line with the project schedule. As well as allowing each panel shape to be rapidly configured without the machining of traditional moulds, the adaptive mould technology massively reduced waste generated in the moulding process, contributing to the building’s low carbon LEED platinum credentials.

With a challenging structural and fire safety specification defined, Sicomin’s bio-based SGi128 intumescent gelcoat and SR1122 fire retardant laminating epoxy were chosen for the panels, an additional advantage being that in addition to high fire properties, SGi 128 is also formulated with over 30% carbon from renewable sources, reducing the final carbon footprint significantly.  

Sicomin worked alongside the panel manufacturer, providing technical support for the fire test panels and the initial Adapa moulding trials.

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Vor seiner Tätigkeit bei The Female Company war er als CTO bei dem Startup Delivery Hero tätig, wo er die Restaurantplattform erfolgreich auf- und ausbaute.  Als Co-Founder und CTO bei yoona.ai wird es seine Aufgabe sein, das Produkt und die Technologie mit den Unternehmen zu verbinden und eine Architektur zu schaffen, die die weitere Entwicklung dieser bahnbrechenden Plattform unterstützt.

yoona.ai bietet eine End-To-End-Lösung, die Unternehmen durch Daten basierte Designgestaltung hilft, bis zu 80% der Zeit in der Entwurfs- und Kollektionsentwicklungsphase zu sparen und näher am Trend und Kunden zu designen, entsprechend die Kosten zu senken und Wegwerfprodukte oder eine Überproduktion zu vermeiden. Neueste Technologien wie neuronale Netze, automatisierte 3D-Generierung- und Augmented Reality wurden in diese Design-Software integriert. Nutzer:innen können ihr Design erstellen, es in 3D-Bilder umwandeln und mit Augmented Reality projizieren. Eine Plattform von der Idee bis zur Produktion.