01.24.11
Danish nonwovens producer Fibertex has split its company into two legal separate entities—Fibertex Personal Care and Fibertex Nonwovens. Fibertex Personal Care will contain the company’s spunmelt operations in Denmark and Malaysia while Fibertex Nonwovens encompasses industrial operations in Denmark, the Czech Republic and South Africa.Two years ago, Fibertex’s parent company Schouw & Co. made the initial steps toward separating the two businesses when it decided to appoint joint CEOs to manage each side of the business but did not make the split official until January 1.
Fibertex first entered the personal care market in the mid 1990s when it started its first spunmelt line. The company now operates three lines in Denmark and two in Malaysia with sales near the DKK1 billion ($185 million) mark. A third Malaysian line, capable of making 22,000 tons of material, is set to come onstream by year’s end.
Meanwhile, Fibertex Nonwovens is less than half of the size of the personal care side with sales of about DKK445 million ($85 million) last year. While this division has faced some challenges in its core markets including automotives and bedding, the company considers it well primed for future expansion. This is in part due to a recent DKK130 million investment in two state-of-the-art needlepunch lines, which use fewer raw materials than previous lines. Additionally, Fibertex announced last year it would begin manufacturing needlepunch nonwovens in South Africa to target geotextile projects in that region.