Egger said its financial half-year, ended October 31, 2022, was very strong but cited highly volatile framework conditions placing on the manufacturer demands, with an expectation of a noticeable drop in demand.
The first half of the 2022/23 financial year was characterized by a large number of crises and uncertainties, both economically and politically, said Thomas Leissing, Egger Group Management Finances/Administration.
"The very strong results of the previous year are due to the extremely high demand as a result of the cocooning effect from the Corona crisis and can therefore be classified as exceptional,” he said.
“This boom in demand has eased noticeably since spring 2022. We are now seeing a drop in demand in almost all markets. At the same time, we are still confronted with a large number of uncertainties.”
In the first half of 2022/23, EBITDA was €353.7m (26.1% down compared to the same period of the previous year). The increase in sales is primarily due to the sharp rise in costs for raw materials, energy and logistics, which led to higher sales prices.
“The many uncertainties and crises and their effects on the energy and raw materials markets as well as the massive inflation and the associated loss of purchasing power have caused a noticeable drop in demand.”
Egger predicted the overall economic outlook will remain subject to great uncertainty in the coming months and will continue to be heavily influenced by the challenges on the energy and raw materials markets.