Vista Alegre H1 loss of €77,000 as sales surge, energy costs rocket
The Portuguese company said on Friday that it had narrowed its first-half loss to €77,000, from €500,000 a year earlier.
Vista Alegre, Portugal’s best-known ceramics and glassware manufacturer, said on Friday that it had narrowed its first-half loss to €77,000, from €500,000 a year earlier, with the company citing “sharply rising energy prices” for its continued failure to turn to profit, despite turnover rising by more than a third.
In a statement sent to Portugal’s Securities Markets Commission (CMVM), the company stresses: “The recent energy crisis, aggravated by the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, caused a sharp rise in natural gas prices and a strong impact on the cost structure of Vista Alegre, in the order of 485% compared to 2021, leading to a negative net result in the first semester.”
It said that it recorded a positive operating result of €2.2 million but a negative net result of €77,000.
“Grupo Vista Alegre consolidated results for the first semester of 2022 showed positive performance in terms of turnover, reaching 67.8 million euros (36.8% above the same period of 2021) and EBITDA [earnings before tax, interest, depreciation and amortisation] 11.2 million euros,” it added.
Sales in foreign markets accounted for 77.4% of Vista Alegre’s turnover, at €52.5 million.
By segments, first-half revenues from earthenware and stoneware was up 31% and 45% on the year, respectively, to €7.3 million and €31.8 million, the company said. Revenues from porcelain totalled €21.6 million, representing a 25% year-on-year increase, while those from crystal and glass swelled 47% to more than €7 million.
“The Vista Alegre brand is increasingly recognized internationally, with the markets of Brazil, the United States of America, France and Spain the largest contributors to the sales of own brand products,” the statement reads.
“Despite this adverse context, Vista Alegre has managed to mitigate some of this negative impact, thanks to investments over the last few years to improve efficiency in its processes and through more efficient management of the means of production and resource utilization,” it summarises. “In addition, urgent government measures are expected to support the ceramics and glass industries, among the largest consumers of natural gas.”
At the end of June, the group had consolidated net debt of €71 million, or €4.3 million less than at the end of 2021.
