SWITZERLAND – Sales for Swiss Krono Group in the past financial year (as of 30 September 2017) were up by 4 percent to EUR 1.56 billion.

During FY2017 the engineered wood manufacturer’s plants in Poland and the Ukraine boosted their output to record levels. On the down side, difficulties with the supply and quality of the production component PMDI (adhesive) and the resulting reduction in the availability of OSB were particular factors that prevented sales rising further.

The Group, controlled by the Chairwoman of the Board of Directors Ines Kaindl from the second generation of the family following the death of founder Ernst Kaindl in the spring of 2017, is now on the growth path. Martin Brettenthaler, the Group’s CEO explained, “We aim not only to maintain our position but to expand it — and last year we made some important strategic decisions to set the stage for this to happen. Our sound industrial and financial base will enable us to take further major steps in the near future which we will specify in detail in the coming months.”

The world’s largest producer of laminate flooring is already investing almost €230 million in the expansion of its US plant in Barnwell, South Carolina (new HDF and floor production facilities). Also €70 million was pumped into the Swiss Menznau plant and €50 million into the Sharya plant in Russia for new chipboard production facilities. In the company’s plant located in Zary, Poland, the Group invested €23 million in CPL systems and short-cycle presses.