Armacell, a global leader in flexible foam for the equipment insulation market and a leading provider of engineered foams, today reported its preliminary unaudited financial results for the year ending 31 December 2021.

In 2021, Armacell realised net sales of EUR 676.6 million, an increase of 14.6% on 2020 (EUR 590.5 million). This performance was driven by the continuing recovery in various markets, market share gains, sales price increases implemented to compensate for higher input costs as well as the growth of the new ArmaGel product range. This growth was partially offset by a temporary slowdown of the wind blade industry following changes in incentive schemes in the USA and China.

Armacell generated an adjusted EBITDA of EUR 116.8 million (2020: EUR 119.6 million). The adjusted EBITDA margin was 17.3% (2020: 20.2%). EBITDA growth was partially offset by significantly higher raw material and freight costs. Compensating price increases and other mitigating actions were implemented, but a degree of delay had to be respected.

Commenting on the financial performance, Patrick Mathieu, Armacell’s President & CEO, said: “In 2021, our business was affected by challenging economic circumstances: significantly higher raw material costs, raw materials in short supply, sea freight fraught with difficulties. In this context, our historically high sales were remarkable.” On pricing and cost increases, Mathieu added: “In a year of fierce and substantial inflation of raw material and transport costs, we were able to proactively increase sales prices and absorb a large part of those changes. 2022 will see further increases as inflation now impacts all cost categories.”

Armacell maintained a high level of investment to advance its product portfolio and innovation. The company continued with its manufacturing capacity and warehouse expansion, including additional recycled PET production capacity, increased FEF production capacity in all regions and enlarged warehousing capacity to further improve its service to customers.

In 2021, Armacell put even greater emphasis on sustainability in its operations. In the development of innovative thermal, acoustic and mechanical solutions, the company is particularly concentrating on aspects of relevance to climate, energy consumption and carbon emissions.

Armacell’s sustainable and innovative technologies are opening new business opportunities, for example by significantly reducing the density of flexible elastomeric foam products and advancing the company’s passive fire protection business. Armacell’s high-performance rPET foams, which are entirely manufactured from recycled plastic bottles, are also adding new opportunities with a focus on insulation.

Armacell is rated B by Standard & Poor’s and B3 by Moody’s.