REGION – Brazilian panel manufacturer Eucatex stands out among its peers by posting the best performance figures in 1Q-2019 according to the Notifix® Index.

This index is the product of the evaluation of the seven leading international manufacturers of wooden panels that publish comparable results: Arauco (Chile), Duratex (Brazil), Eucatex (Brazil), Masisa (Chile), Norbord (Canada), Pfleiderer (Germany) and Sonae Indústria (Portugal).

In the 1Q-2019 comparison, Eucatex stood out in terms of sales growth (+ 18.8%), EBITDA growth (+29.3%), improvement in EBITDA Margin (+1.7 pp) and Profit growth (+237.8%).

In sales growth, Eucatex was followed by Duratex (+ 8%), Sonae Indústria (+ 4.6%) and Arauco (+ 0.7%). The other manufacturers experienced a drop in sales in 1Q-2019, with Norbord’s sales decreasing the most (-17.4%).

Except for Eucatex, the EBITDA of the other board manufacturers, presented a negative variation in the period. Being Norbord (-75.3%) and Masisa (-51.9%) the companies with the largest drop in this indicator.

In 1Q-2019 the best EBITDA margin was obtained by Arauco (25.6%), followed by Eucatex (18.7%) and Duratex (17.1%). Eucatex being the only company with an improvement in the EBITDA Margin and Norbord the company with the greatest deterioration (-20.7 p.p.).

Regarding the performance of net income (profit), Eucatex and Masisa were the only companies that obtained an improvement. While Norbord had the biggest drop (-102.1%) followed by Sonae Indústria (-68.5%) and Pfleiderer (65.5%).