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Fiberweb announced that for the July-to-October period, overall volumes have been marginally ahead of the comparable period in the previous year, giving year-to-date volumes around 5% ahead on a like-for-like basis. The strongest trading performance continues to be seen in Fiberweb’s Industrial businesses, albeit U.S. construction markets remain weak. Hygiene volumes have been slightly ahead of last year on a like-for-like basis in the company’s wholly-owned businesses globally. The Americas spunbond joint venture established last year, FitesaFiberweb, has enjoyed another strong period.

Raw material costs largely stabilized in the period, following the significant increases seen in the first-half.
Contractual pass-through of earlier raw material increases, further successful hedging activity and firm pricing actions together with continued improvement in product mix ensured strong progress in underlying operating margins. (underlying profit measures are before restructuring cots and other non-recurring items.)

As expected, net debt increased slightly during the period, with a major part of the increase attributable to the cost of the termination in July of interest rate swaps relating to a previous loan facility.

Daniel Dayan, chief executive said,“We are pleased with the performance during this period and the Board expects to report good progress for the year as a whole.”