Plastic Components

Markedly higher revenue and slightly higher margin percentages with stable costs meant that the first quarter operating result at Plastic Components worked out considerably higher than last year. The individual markets have recovered well, although the market for out-of-home food has been severely weakened by the various lockdowns. A start has now been made on batch production of nanoplates for point-of-care diagnostic solutions for the medical market. Given the results at Polmer, a decision has been made to investigate the long-term perspective for these injection moulding activities in Poland.

Industrial Systems

Revenue at Industrial Systems was visibly lower in the first quarter than in the first quarter of 2020. Nonetheless, higher margins and lower costs also helped Industrial Systems to generate a substantially higher operating result. Despite the measures taken worldwide due to Covid-19, the order intake at all the companies remained at a respectable level. On the other hand, some projects are difficult to complete and new expansion projects are sometimes still being postponed.

Bart Aangenendt, CEO of Hydratec: “We have started the year well. The various markets have found ways of dealing with the global outbreak of Covid-19. The pandemic has obviously led to uncertainties, but it has also provided opportunities. The various measures we took in 2020 to improve the result seem to be having an impact.”

Expectations for the 2021 financial year

On the basis of its good results for Q1, Hydratec expects to achieve a better result for the whole of 2021 than it did in 2020. Industrial Systems has a well-filled order book. The Covid-19 pandemic is still causing uncertainty at Plastic Components, particularly in the market for out-of-home food.

Hydratec Industries is listed on the Euronext Amsterdam NV stock exchange (ISIN NL0009391242, ticker: HYDRA.)