In the third quarter of 2020, Ahlstrom-Munksjö’s net sales decreased by 8% to €654.5 million ($773.4 million). At constant currency rates the decrease was 3.6%, driven mainly by slightly lower selling prices.

The impact of the pandemic on customer activity varied. Deliveries increased in health care and life science, home building and furniture, and consumer goods related end uses, while they were at last year’s level in transportation related applications. Deliveries decreased in the industrial segments.

In the Filtration & Performance Solutions business area, net sales declined to €158 million ($187 million) in the third quarter of 2020 compared to €172 million ($203 million) in the third quarter of 2019.
The decline in net sales was mainly driven by the divestments of the glass fiber reinforcement and fine arts businesses as well as an adverse currency effect. The divestments had an impact of about €8 million ($9.5 million) on net sales.

Demand for filtration, glass fiber flooring and abrasive materials started to recover from a low level in Q2. The company is also seeing signs of improving demand for wallcoverings and plasterboard applications. There’s also continued good demand for face mask materials, albeit at a lower level than in Q2, the company says