Bekaert: First quarter trading update 2021

12-May-2021

Press release

Summary & download

Bekaert makes a very strong start to 2021
All-time high quarterly sales – substantial volume growth

Highlights 

  • Record-high quarter revenue: consolidated sales of € 1 128 million (+19%) and combined sales of € 1 339 million (+23%)
  • Global demand rebound and strong momentum in Latin American and Indian markets
  • Working capital on sales further down to 13%, despite the impact from wire rod price increases
  • More than € 1 billion cash on hand with € 60 million incremental liquidity over year-end 2020
  • Strong balance sheet: debt deleveraging continued in the first quarter

Our business focus and priorities

  • Continued focus on protecting the health and safety of our employees and their families through the Covid-19 pandemic
  • Secured raw material supplies to ensure delivery continuity to customers worldwide
  • Further accelerated profit restoration and improvements across all business units and at Group level
    • Product and business mix improvements, in line with our strategy to upgrade the business portfolio
    • Pricing discipline aligned with raw materials price evolutions
  • Continued effective control on cost and working capital


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