BRAZIL - Eucatex, one of the largest producers of wood panels in Brazil, which also operates in the paint and varnish, laminate floors and doors segments, informed the market of its results for the third quarter of 2019 (3Q-2019).

Sales reached BRL 398.7 million, compared to BRL 321.2 million in 3Q-2018, an increase of 24.2 percent. In the wood segment, sales grew 17.6 percent in 3Q-2019, positively impacted by the increase in physical sales.

A similar performance occurred in 9M-2019, compared to the same period of 2018, with sales growth of 21.7 percent reaching BRL 1,128.3 million, against BRL 927.0 million in 9M-2018. The highlight of the nine months of the year was the wood segment, with a 21.8 percent increase in sales, as a result of the increase in physical sales, mainly due to the hardboard product.

Recurring EBITDA totaled BRL 74.6 million in 3Q-2019, an increase of 21.2 percent compared to 3Q-2018. The recurring EBITDA margin reached 18.7 percent, a decrease of 0.5 pp compared to the same period of the previous year.

In 9M-2019, the recurring EBITDA totaled BRL 213.0 million, an increase of 27.2 percent compared to 9M-2018, while the Recurring EBITDA Margin was 18.9 percent (+0.8 pp).

Sales growth and gross margin improvement in 3Q-2019 and 9M-2019 had a favorable impact on recurring net income, which totaled BRL 15.6 million (+ 65.8%) and BRL 56.5 million (+ 522.2%), respectively and compared with 3Q-2018 and 9M-2018.