From the Sector

Kornit Digital, a worldwide market leader in digital textile printing technology, announced Westerbroek, Groningen-based Reclameland has invested nearly €20 million in a second production hall and state-of-the-art machines, including the Kornit Atlas system for industrial direct-to-garment (DTG) production on demand, in the past year to further accelerate growth. The fastest-growing online printer in the Netherlands, Reclameland achieved a turnover of almost €23 million in 2019 and a profit of more than €1 million.

Now the second-largest business of its type in the Netherlands, Reclameland’s workforce grew by 20% in the past year, enabling them to handle most production operations internally. They attributed increased demand for printed pieces to a strong growth in online buying, for both consumers and businesses.

“2019 marked the definitive breakthrough of online printing, and we have established ourselves as a total print solutions provider for signage, banners, posters, flags, and other digitally printed textiles,” says Wouter Haan, CEO of Reclameland.  "By continuously innovating, we can serve every type of customer. Our investment in Kornit technology has empowered us to imprint more than a thousand garments per day with a single operator, meeting the retail quality, wash and light fastness, and sustainability standards of the world’s largest apparel brands.”

“Reclameland demonstrates the vast opportunities on-demand producers have when they diversify their product offerings and align their operations for a marketplace that increasingly relies on e-commerce,” says Chris Govier, KDEU Managing Director. “Kornit technology offers the perfect foundation for making that business model a success, eliminating slow and costly steps between buyers seeing a brilliantly-designed piece virtually and having it in their hands. We are proud to support Reclameland as they grow to fulfill the promise of digital commerce.”

• Tata Communications continues to drive growth and profitability Delivers PAT of INR 309 Crore for Q3, up 428% YoY
• Data services revenue grew by +3.8% YoY | Consolidated EBITDA at INR 1,046 Crore, increase of +37.5% YoY with margin expansion of 680 Bps

Consolidated financial highlights

•    Consolidated revenue was at INR 4,223 crore (USD 572 Mn); flat YoY, growth in data business compensated for decrease in Voice business
•    Consolidated EBITDA at INR 1,046 crore (USD 142 Mn); increase of +37.5% YoY on the back of robust growth and margin expansion in data business and cost optimisation initiatives
•    Consolidated PAT at INR 309 crore (USD 42 Mn) as compared to a profit of INR 59 crore in Q3 FY20, growth of +428% YoY, on the back of strong growth in profitability
•    Net Debt has come down on the back of strong free cash flow generation; Net Debt to EBITDA at 1.9x as compared to 2.9x for same quarter last year
•    CAPEX for this quarter was INR 339 crore as compared to INR 490 crore in Q3 FY20

Please find attached the detailed financial results Q2 FY21.

• Demo plant sorts post-consumer plastic waste and will produce ready-for-market fully formulated polymer pellets
• Brand owners and converters will be able to access material for qualification and market validation in early 2021
• EverMinds™ in action: Pioneering collaboration brings together expertise vital to advancing the circular economy

Borealis and TOMRA have today announced the operational start of their advanced mechanical recycling demo plant in Lahnstein, Germany, the result of a partnership that marries chemistry with technology for unsurpassed results.

The state-of-the-art plant processes both rigid and flexible plastic waste from households. And unlike many current recycling plants, it will produce the advanced solutions necessary for use in high-demanding plastic applications in various industries, including automotive and consumer products. With high purity, low odour, high product consistency and light colour fractions, these Borcycle™ M grade recycled polymers will meet customer quality requirements across the value chain.

The purpose of this demo plant is to generate material for brand owners and converters to qualify, validate and prove fit for use in their highly demanding applications. Technical success will set the groundwork for a commercial-scale advanced recycling plant.

“This plant is just the beginning of what’s possible when key players in the value chain come together to make a truly significant impact in the market,” says Volker Rehrmann, Executive Vice President and Head of Circular Economy at TOMRA. “Having just launched the new Circular Economy Division, it is clear what a large role waste management and pivotal projects like this have on moving towards a sustainable future. We are proud to have initiated one of the most advanced mechanical recycling plants when it comes to post-consumer polymer waste. This will become an important enabler as we accelerate the transformation to a circular economy in the years to come, and we are excited to be a part of this pioneering project.”

Operation of the plant is a joint enterprise between Borealis, TOMRA and Zimmerman. Borealis is responsible for the plant’s commercial success and contributes its expertise and knowledge in innovation, recycling and compounding. Likewise, TOMRA contributes as a provider of technology-led solutions and brings its proven expertise, established process and market knowledge, which, in turn, enable the circular economy through advanced collection and sorting systems. Zimmerman is a waste management company with experience in sorting multiple types of waste, including plastics, and is responsible for successful plant operations and product quality.

“At P&G we are making packaging with the ‘next life’ in mind to help drive a more robust circular economy.  We must increase the supply of high quality recycled plastic to enable the industry to deliver on this vision,” says Gian De Belder, Procter & Gamble (P&G) Technical Director, R&D Packaging Sustainability. “The innovative new approach that Borealis is taking shows potential to step-change both the quantity and quality of PCR available for our brands, and help us to achieve our 2030 goal to reduce our use of virgin plastic in packaging by 50%, or 300 kilotonnes annually. Early tests of the material looks very promising!”

Tata Communications, a global digital ecosystem enabler, has been recognised by global environmental non-profit organisation, Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) with the distinguished ‘A-’ leadership score for implementing current best practices in sustainability for climate change. Tata Communications score is higher than the global average of ‘C’ and higher than the Asia region average of ‘D’. The Company scores the highest global score for playing a leading role in Climate Change governance, value chain management, energy efficiency, risk and opportunity disclosures in CDP 2020 reporting.

Tata Communications is among the top 34% companies globally to have received the leadership score for best practices out of 9,600+ companies that reported environmental disclosures this year. The scores are attributed basis a comprehensive peer benchmarking and sustainability performance.

The company made some strategic shifts in implementing several energy efficiency measures and this recognition reaffirms its focus on sustainability. In fiscal 2020, Tata Communications sourced approximately 15 million units of renewable energy and implemented emission reduction initiatives resulting in energy savings to the tune of 0.8 million units.

Tata Communications Sustainability strategy is based on the three facets of environment, social and governance (ESG) principles. The Company’s objective is to drive value creation for its stakeholders and drive sustainable business growth by managing risks and embracing opportunities, implementing robust governance practices and optimising the economic, environmental and social performance.

Underwear and loungewear specialist MEY announces the launch of its product series "Zzzleepwear,” developed to improve the quality of sleep for men and women. Setting new standards in the sleepwear category, functionality and technical innovation are the focus of the product styles that also offer stylish looks and wearer comfort.

People who sleep well recharge their batteries and can start the next day full of energy. However, many people suffer from sleep problems that can have a long-term negative impact on health and well-being. MEY’s Zzzleepwear was built to address that.

„Zzzleepwear“ reflects far-infrared rays
Fabrics of the "Zzzleepwear" series are equipped with energear™ technology from schoeller®. They reflect the body's own energy, which is emitted in the form of far-infrared rays. The textile finish is based on a titanium-mineral matrix, which reflects far-infrared rays back to the body. This effect can have a positive impact on the body and its energy balance. The understanding of far infrared rays and their positive properties has its origin in Asian healing medicine. Far Eastern medicine has incorporated life energy, "Qi" in Chinese, for centuries. More and more people are discovering that their performance increases when energy balance and energy flow are in harmony. schoeller® is transferring this function to textiles, and MEY is using the finish for the first time in nightwear.

Further fabric properties and design features
For the new "Zzzleepwear" series, the energear™ coating is applied to the inside of the fabric in a honeycomb-like form. It thus represents the core of the series. In addition, the fabric with melange structure is made of natural cotton and thermoregulating fibers that provide high breathability. The large proportion of natural cotton fibers increases the wearing comfort of this special nightwear. The "Zzzleepwear" series offers different color variations, as well as outstanding design features like flat seams and an interior print in the neck area.

Podcast with soporific effect
MEY wants to lull its customers to sleep in a particularly original way: A Spotify code is printed on every item in the series. By scanning this code, customers can listen to a sleep podcast created especially for the selected pair of pyjamas. In the eleven-part good night story, the products tell their own manufacturing story, from the cotton field to the fabric production in Albstadt to the store – so boring, it will have customers nodding off in no time.

First edition of JEC Summit Sports & Health – Connect, an online event platform devoted to medical and sports equipment manufacturers using composites, ended last week going above and beyond its set goals. JEC Summit Sports & Health – Connect brought together professionals from the whole composites value chain and allows decision-makers to evolve and inspire through a subsequent event program. This summit was the first in a long line of events devoted to composites in the Sports and Health industry that are to come within the next two years.

The three-day event was conceived as a forum to gather composites professionals, affiliates, and high-profile speakers to share their expertise in composites materials involved in creating state-of-the-art medical devices and sports equipment.

“Following the enforced postponement of many trade shows, we took the step of becoming the first organizer to stage an online event dedicated to composites in the sports and health industry. We put together a high-level conference agenda and speaker roster, and devised some great ideas for virtual networking, said Christian Strassburger, Event Director at JEC Group. “I could not be prouder of what we achieved with many delegates from Europe and Americas tuning in, including representatives from more than 36 countries. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank all our sponsors and partners. Their trust, support, and input were a crucial part of both the quality and success of the summit.”

The event attracted an audience of more than 1,100 professionals from the composites industry, from 36 countries, and helped organize 216 pre-arranged one to one meetings between buyers and sellers via our dedicated online meeting rooms, this without mentioning informal networking between participants. It reached these numbers, as participants logged on in considerable numbers to learn from the insights and ideas of the unparalleled line-up of high-level speakers who took part in the summit’s twenty-track conference.

The agenda for the JEC Summit Sports & Health – Connect featured tracks on current trends and Innovations in sports & health composite applications, with keynotes delivered by Dominic LeBlanc Senior Concept Engineer, at Callaway Golf, Christophe Lecomte, Director of Biomechanical Solutions R&D, at Össur, Fleur Jong, Professional Sprinter, and Co-founder of the Para Athletics Foundation and Damiano Salvatori, Materials Research Engineer, at the Straumann Group.

The panel of high-profile experts from Europe and America offered perspectives and inspiration for the next generation of medical and sports devices made of composites materials. The line-up included Bjorn Ivar Austrem, Technical Director, at Madshus, Laurine Calistri, Research Engineer, at Proteor, Anatole Gilliot, CEO of Suprem, Julien Duplay, Composites Methods Engineer, at Decathlon, Eric Jackson, President of Apex Watercraft, Stéphan Vérin, General Secretary, at EuraMaterials, Maximilian Segl, Principal Expert Composites, and Johannes Wölper, Development Engineer, both from Ottobock, and Matthew Dickinson, Senior Lecturer in Engineering, at University of Central Lancashire. Christos Karatzias, at Mitsui Chemicals Europe and Anthony Bert, at Helicoid Industries.

And one cannot omit the international startups that pitched all through the three-day event: ProsFit (Bulgaria), Alchemy (Greece), moi composites (Italy), Mercuris (Germany), Arevo/Superstrata (USA), Checkerspot/WNDR Alpine (USA), Ambrocio (Finland) Nairoby (Argentina). All gave inspiring and promising perspectives in the sector and what to look for in the near future.

• Looking to the future – Frankfurt Fashion Week is positioning itself with a consistently sustainable agenda and propelling the transformation of a modern, resource-efficient fashion industry.

The Conscious Fashion Campaign (CFC), working in collaboration with the United Nations Office for Partnerships (UNOP), will be the presenting partner and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) will be a prerequisite for all exhibitors by 2023. And the Frankfurt Fashion SDG Summit by CFC is set to become the leading international conference for sustainability in the fashion world. The future of fashion has begun – and its key players will be coming together in Frankfurt am Main from 5-9 July 2021.
 
Frankfurt am Main, 2 December 2020. Joining forces to improve the fashion industry: Frankfurt Fashion Week is positioning itself as the host of the future of fashion and actively driving forward the transformation towards a future-oriented, more sustainable fashion and textile industry. All decision-makers looking to instigate this change will be coming together in Frankfurt am Main from 5-9 July 2021. The initiators of Frankfurt Fashion Week – Messe Frankfurt and the Premium Group – have achieved a real coup: Conscious Fashion Campaign, working in collaboration with the United Nations Office for Partnerships, will be the presenting partner. Messe Frankfurt will build on its collaboration with the United Nations Office for Partnerships and establish Frankfurt Fashion week as the platform on which to advance the Sustainable Development Goals and help guide the fashion industry into the 'Decade of Action'.
 
“Frankfurt will play host to the whole world. We are seeing a very positive response indeed,” confirmed Peter Feldmann, Senior Mayor of the City of Frankfurt am Main, at today’s digital press conference, before going on to say: “The fact that the initiators are able to rethink the concept of a Fashion Week in such a way is extremely impressive and proves that the fashion industry is correctly interpreting the signs of the present and future. The time has come for value creation and values to be reconciled. Consistent alignment with the Sustainable Development Goals is an important step in this direction.”
 
“Frankfurt Fashion Week aims to play a crucial role in finding solutions for macrosocial challenges and supporting the goals of international politics such as the European Green Deal. The fashion and textile industries are also expected to be climate-neutral by 2050. If we want to achieve this, we all need to pull together. Frankfurt Fashion Week is inviting all initiators and supporters of sustainable concepts and congresses or shows dedicated to sustainability to meet in Frankfurt, partake in discussions and make tangible decisions for the greater good. We will connect the most relevant players and pave the way for a future-proof fashion and textile industry,” says Detlef Braun, CEO of Messe Frankfurt.
 
“Given its global reach, the fashion industry is uniquely positioned to collaborate and engage on the Sustainable Development Goals, in particular on climate action and responsible production and consumption,” said Annemarie Hou, Acting Executive Director of the United Nations Office for Partnerships. “Frankfurt Fashion Week and the Summit will serve as an important platform for education and engagement of the fashion and textile industry in the Decade of Action,” emphasised Ms Hou.
 
The aim of Frankfurt Fashion Week is for all exhibitors, participants and partners to align with the Sustainable Development Goals by 2023. The SDGs will also be incorporated into all formats of Frankfurt Fashion Week. This will help to make the UN’s sustainability goals visible and tangible for the Fashion Week audience, therefore bringing its claim, goals and specific proposals for implementation to an international opinion-forming fashion and lifestyle community. During a one-day Frankfurt Fashion SDG Summit presented by Conscious Fashion Campaign, topics like gender equality, clean water, climate protection, social justice and their significance for a forward-looking fashion industry will be examined in greater depth. Another point on the sustainability agenda: Frankfurt Fashion Week is launching a Sustainability Award for outstanding, innovative, sustainable design, alongside other categories with a global appeal for the fashion and textile industry.
 
"We are committed to setting the wheels of transformation in motion. Not only does the overall mindset have to fundamentally change; the entire industry also needs to have the courage to be transparent and honest. It’s important to see values and value creation as opportunities rather than contentious. We are doing what we do best: connecting the relevant players at all levels. With its ecosystem, Frankfurt Fashion Week will become the enabler. We are creating a platform that will orchestrate industry-wide change. With this as our inspiration, we are also developing our tradeshow formats from a ‘marketplace of products’ to a ‘marketplace of purpose and ideas’,” explains Anita Tillmann, Managing Partner of the Premium Group.
 
A new start in Frankfurt: In summer 2021 the entire fashion industry will be coming to the metropolis on the Main river to inform themselves, be inspired, discuss, negotiate and celebrate. “There’s a huge need to finally meet in person again, to exchange ideas and be inspired. At the same time, digital tools and formats have become an integral part of the fashion industry,” says Markus Frank, Head of the City of Frankfurt’s Department of Economic Affairs and therefore also responsible for its creative industry. “To implement such a future-oriented, all-encompassing overall concept, Frankfurt’s business and creative scenes offer an almost unique concentration of different expertise with its internationally networked agencies, universities and museums. The city’s multifaceted, high-end club, bar and restaurant scene, diverse hotel industry and internationally renowned retail landscape will become the stage for this. This network will be a key factor in the successful implementation of Frankfurt Fashion Week and the way in which it will expand into the public space as a cultural and social happening.”
 
A number of major publishing houses are also showing their commitment to the new Fashion Week in Frankfurt with conferences, events and awards: Textilwirtschaft, the leading professional fashion journal by the Deutscher Fachverlag publishing house, is moving its traditional meeting of the industry’s top decision-makers – the TW Forum, the presentation of the renowned Forum Award, as well as its subsequent conference – from Heidelberg to Frankfurt’s Palmengarten botanical gardens, and will therefore be kicking off Frankfurt Fashion Week on Sunday evening and Monday morning. The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung will be hosting its traditional fashion party for the first time in Frankfurt and publishing a special edition of its FAZ Magazin on Frankfurt Fashion Week. And the ZEIT publishing group is holding its ‘UNLOCK Style by ZEITmagazin’ conference, which was established in 2014, and the ZEITmagazin Fashion Week party in Frankfurt for the first time and will dedicate the whole new issue of ZEITmagazin Frankfurt to Frankfurt Fashion Week. Condé Nast will also be involved in next summer’s Frankfurt Fashion Week with an exclusive event by GQ. And the Burda publishing house will also be represented with various event formats from its lifestyle and fashion brands.There will also be talks with SHINE  Conventions, the organiser of GLOW, about what a mutual collaboration could look like.
 
Frankfurt Fashion Week is also delighted to have the Fashion Council Germany (FCG) on board.  The FCG is theinstitution when it comes to German fashion design. It promotes designers, is committed to gaining more political relevance and strengthens the international visibility and awareness of German fashion. At Frankfurt Fashion Week, the FCG will contribute selected formats, such as its already established Fireside Chat, and a future-oriented accelerator format to support German designers.
 
“What really impresses me about Fashion Week is the whole networking aspect: the creative industries will meet the financial world and sustainability is the common denominator. The Green Finance Cluster is another project that we could link with Frankfurt Fashion Week in the future. This will provide new inspiration in the fashion industry, which will certainly extend way beyond its own horizon of Frankfurt and Hesse. After a very difficult year for the trade fair industry, the concept is an encouraging breath of fresh air,” sums up Tarek Al-Wazir, Hesse’s Minister of Economics, Energy, Transport and Regional Development and Deputy Minister-President of the state of Hessen.

• Lenzing AG has successfully issued a hybrid bond – a subordinated, unsecured bond – with a total volume of EUR 500 mn and a coupon of 5.75 percent.

The bond was multiple times oversubscribed, has a perpetual tenor and achieves 100 percent IFRS equity accounting due to its structural features. It has successfully been issued following a two-day roadshow with international investors. The denomination of the hybrid bond is EUR 100,000. It is Lenzing’s first hybrid bond on the capital market and will further strengthen the company’s capital structure.

“The success of our hybrid issuance underlines the creditworthiness of Lenzing and the confidence of the capital market in our company. The completion of the transaction strengthens our balance sheet and is a further step in diversifying our financing structure”, said Thomas Obendrauf, Chief Financial Officer of Lenzing AG.

BNP Paribas and Morgan Stanley acted as joint global coordinators and structuring advisors and BNP Paribas, Morgan Stanley and UniCredit as joint bookrunners.

The global automobile production has been recovering faster than expected since summer. If this positive trend continues through the full second half of the year, Group revenue in local currencies in the second semester is likely to be just around –5% below the level of the prior year period. For the full year 2020 it is anticipated that revenue in local currencies will decline by around –20% compared to 2019.

Based on this development of revenue, the extensive cost reduction measures taken in response to the COVID-19 crisis and the on-schedule progress of the turnaround in North America, an EBIT margin of 4-5% is expected for the second half of the year and a slightly positive EBIT margin for 2020 as a whole. Supported by the strict management of working capital and investments, the free cash flow is likely to be in the higher double-digit million range, which should enable a slight reduction in debt.

The outlook for 2021 and especially the first half-year remains uncertain and depends strongly on how the pandemic will develop. According to forecasts, global vehicle production in 2021 will still not reach the level of 2019.

Cooperation and business development with AMAC
As of November 1st, 2020, AMAC is pleased to announce its cooperation with company FibreCoat for the market introduction of their products and global business development. FibreCoat is a young, award-winning start-up and spin-off of the RWTH Aachen University in Germany and develops multi-filament coated yarns, fabrics and composites based on glass or basalt fibres.

Dr. Michael Effing, CEO AMAC GmbH: „FibreCoat is a very promising newcomer in the electro-magnetic shielding and composites industry and their innovations are very cost-efficient for new technologies such as e-mobility or telecommunications. I am very pleased to introduce them to relevant key players in the industry and accompany them in their growth strategy.“

Product Launch
FibreCoat develops metal-coated fibres like bi-component multi-filament yarns with basalt core and aluminum coating which can be used for EMI-shielding and heat sinks in battery casings, electric diverters in filters, reinforcement of cast aluminum parts o ras conductive yarns in smart textiles.

FibreCoat launches ALUCOAT™, an aluminum-coated glass or basalt fibre which is suitable as electro-magnetic shielding material in automotive applications such as radar, antennas or for autonomous driving as well as for mobile phones and applications in buildings. Due to its extraordinary thermal conductivity and better heat transfer compared to traditional composite material, it can be used for the manufacturing of automotive battery trays or industrial applications such as fine particulate air filters.

ALUCOAT™ is available as of January 1st 2021 as a yarn, fabric or non-woven with a wide range of possible titers and areal weight. The material will offer an electrical conductivity of 100 Ωm and a working temperature of at least 400 °C. Furthermore, it can be used for the shielding of low to high frequencies with an effectiveness of 80 to 120 dB.