01.01.08
Location: CZECH REPUBLIC
Sales: $167 million
Description: Key Personnel
Milos Bogdan, managing director; Frantisek Klaska, technical director; Frantisek Rezac, commercial director, Ales Gerza, financial director; Rostislav Vrbacky, production director
Plants
Znojmo, Bucovice, Czech Republic
ISO Status
ISO-9001: 2000, ISO-14001: 2004, ISO-9004: 2004
Nonwovens Processes
Spunbond, meltblown, SMS, BiCo
Major Markets
Hygiene, agriculture, healthcare, ecology, furniture, building, protective apparel, industrial
With its ninth production line project currently underway, the Czech Republic’s largest nonwovens producer Pegas Nonwovens is improving its technology to strengthen its operating margins. While sales remained relatively flat between 2006 and 2007, net profits attributable to shareholders increased 9.2%.
“Pegas for example is one of the very few suppliers of bicomponent materials in Europe combining polypropylene and polyethylene,” said commercial director Frantisek Rezac. “In 2008, we expect to increase the absolute level of technologically advanced materials compared with 2007. Pegas’ focus is on technologically advanced materials as these materials give us better margins than commodity products.”
For 2008, Pegas expects sales to grow 21-25% thanks to capacity increases created by its latest production line launched in November last year.
Pegas’ key market continues to be the European hygiene market and hygiene products constitute 86% of the company’s total sales. With sales in this market forecast to grow at about 5% per year, Pegas also hopes to increase its market share in this segment. “The market is relatively fragmented with too many small nonwovens producers and we are now seeing some signs of consolidation on the horizon. Our customers are consolidated and their markets are dominated by a few big players and we predict a similar situation developing at our level,” commented Mr. Rezac
During the past several years, Pegas has been adding a new production line every two to three years. Pegas’ latest line, a 15,000-ton-per-year, 3.2-meter-wide SSMMMS line officially launched in November 2007 is expected to increase the company’s capacity by 28% and its sales by 21-25% in 2008. As this capacity is already fully utilized, Pegas has already announced a plan to add a ninth line, for which it has established a new subsidiary company under the name Pegas NS a.s. This wholly-owned subsidiary was registered by Pegas in early December 2007. Conditions of the investment are being negotiated with the Czech authorities. Pegas expects the new line to be operational in 2011.
Pegas’ rapid growth has been the result of investment into the latest technology available on the market and its geographically advantageous central European location, which has given it access to both Western and Eastern markets. “Recently, the European market has become somewhat more challenging due to a slight overcapacity, which has led to lower margins of all nonwovens producers,” Mr. Rezac said. “We believe that this slight overcapacity will be better balanced in the next one to two years and present an opportunity primarily for producers of technologically demanding materials.”
With all eight of its lines based on Reicofil-based spunbond and/or spunmelt technology, Pegas has at this time no ongoing plans to add different technologies. “We believe that spunmelt and spunbond technologies are the winning formula and therefore we will continue to focus on them,” Mr. Rezac said. “We are closely monitoring the market situation and its trends and if we discover other opportunities, we are ready to react accordingly. Rather than a shift to different textile technologies, we see the future in the integration of demanded products like ultra-light weight, resistant, elastic or biodegradable textiles into our research and manufacturing, utilizing the opportunities and economies of scale offered by our large modern fleet of production lines.”
Sales: $167 million
Description: Key Personnel
Milos Bogdan, managing director; Frantisek Klaska, technical director; Frantisek Rezac, commercial director, Ales Gerza, financial director; Rostislav Vrbacky, production director
Plants
Znojmo, Bucovice, Czech Republic
ISO Status
ISO-9001: 2000, ISO-14001: 2004, ISO-9004: 2004
Nonwovens Processes
Spunbond, meltblown, SMS, BiCo
Major Markets
Hygiene, agriculture, healthcare, ecology, furniture, building, protective apparel, industrial
With its ninth production line project currently underway, the Czech Republic’s largest nonwovens producer Pegas Nonwovens is improving its technology to strengthen its operating margins. While sales remained relatively flat between 2006 and 2007, net profits attributable to shareholders increased 9.2%.
“Pegas for example is one of the very few suppliers of bicomponent materials in Europe combining polypropylene and polyethylene,” said commercial director Frantisek Rezac. “In 2008, we expect to increase the absolute level of technologically advanced materials compared with 2007. Pegas’ focus is on technologically advanced materials as these materials give us better margins than commodity products.”
For 2008, Pegas expects sales to grow 21-25% thanks to capacity increases created by its latest production line launched in November last year.
Pegas’ key market continues to be the European hygiene market and hygiene products constitute 86% of the company’s total sales. With sales in this market forecast to grow at about 5% per year, Pegas also hopes to increase its market share in this segment. “The market is relatively fragmented with too many small nonwovens producers and we are now seeing some signs of consolidation on the horizon. Our customers are consolidated and their markets are dominated by a few big players and we predict a similar situation developing at our level,” commented Mr. Rezac
During the past several years, Pegas has been adding a new production line every two to three years. Pegas’ latest line, a 15,000-ton-per-year, 3.2-meter-wide SSMMMS line officially launched in November 2007 is expected to increase the company’s capacity by 28% and its sales by 21-25% in 2008. As this capacity is already fully utilized, Pegas has already announced a plan to add a ninth line, for which it has established a new subsidiary company under the name Pegas NS a.s. This wholly-owned subsidiary was registered by Pegas in early December 2007. Conditions of the investment are being negotiated with the Czech authorities. Pegas expects the new line to be operational in 2011.
Pegas’ rapid growth has been the result of investment into the latest technology available on the market and its geographically advantageous central European location, which has given it access to both Western and Eastern markets. “Recently, the European market has become somewhat more challenging due to a slight overcapacity, which has led to lower margins of all nonwovens producers,” Mr. Rezac said. “We believe that this slight overcapacity will be better balanced in the next one to two years and present an opportunity primarily for producers of technologically demanding materials.”
With all eight of its lines based on Reicofil-based spunbond and/or spunmelt technology, Pegas has at this time no ongoing plans to add different technologies. “We believe that spunmelt and spunbond technologies are the winning formula and therefore we will continue to focus on them,” Mr. Rezac said. “We are closely monitoring the market situation and its trends and if we discover other opportunities, we are ready to react accordingly. Rather than a shift to different textile technologies, we see the future in the integration of demanded products like ultra-light weight, resistant, elastic or biodegradable textiles into our research and manufacturing, utilizing the opportunities and economies of scale offered by our large modern fleet of production lines.”