Lydall’s net sales decreased by $17.5 million, or 8%, to $200.5 million, compared to $218 million in the first quarter of 2019, primarily due to the effects of COVID-19. Even with the effects of the pandemic, sales in the Performance Materials (“PM”) segment increased by 1% to $65.2 million compared to the same period last year; this was offset by lower sales in the Thermal Acoustical Solutions (“TAS”) segment, and to a lesser extent the Technical Nonwovens (“TNW”) segment.

Randall B. Gonzales, executive vice president and chief financial officer, states, “We experienced very strong sequential quarterly sales improvements in Performance Materials with Filtration sales up 16.5% and Sealing and Advanced Solutions sales up 17.1% compared to the fourth quarter of 2019.”

Sara A. Greenstein, president and CEO, comments: “When it first became apparent that COVID-19 would have a significant impact on the global economy, we acted rapidly and decisively to safeguard the health and safety of our global workforce and the sustainability of our business. We immediately responded to the large unmet need and global shortage of supplies for front line and first responder personnel and re-prioritized our manufacturing capabilities in North America and Europe to produce filtration products used in N95 respirators, surgical and medical masks, and medical wipes, pads and gowns. In response to our automotive customers ceasing operations in the U.S. and Europe late in the quarter, we quickly ramped down production at our Thermal Acoustical Solutions facilities in these geographies.”