- First quarter consolidated revenues reach € 22 mn (vs. € 19.7mn in Q1 2020, +11.9%)
- Significant growth in: biostimulants to € 14.1mn (vs. € 12.1mn in Q1 2020, +17%); animal fat to € 2.7mn (vs. € 2.1mn in Q1 2020, +29.4%); services for the collection of tanning residues to € 1.1mn (vs. € 1mn in Q1 2020, +13.3%)
- Construction retardants still slowing down to € 3.9mn (vs. € 4.3mn in Q1 2020, -10.1%); although less than company forecasts
- Significant growth in all major areas: Europe (including Italy) at € 12.6mn (vs. € 12.1mn in Q1 2020, +3.8%); Asia-Pacific at € 5.7mn (vs. € 4.5mn in Q1 2020, +28.9%); Americas at € 1.74mn (vs. € 1.69mn in Q1 2020, +2.9%); the smaller Middle East and Africa market at € 0.9mn (vs. € 0.4mn in Q1 2020, +92.5%)
SICIT Group, listed on the Italian Equities Market (MTA – STAR segment), announces that consolidated revenues in the period 1 January – 31 March 2021, if compared to the same period of 2020, recorded an overall increase of over € 2.3 million, reaching € 22 million (+11.5%).
This growth concerned both biostimulants for agriculture (+17%) and animal fat for the production of biofuels (+29.4%), as well as revenues from services for the collection of tanning residues (+13.3%). On the other hand, retardants for the plaster industry (-10.1%) continued to slow down, due to the continuing effects of the Covid emergency on the world construction market. Although, in this respect, sales of retardants had been exceptionally strong in Q1 2020 (+19.6% compared to Q1 2019), having benefited from a stockpile effect by customers, in view of foreseeable lockdowns. As such, sales of retardants in Q1 2021, when compared to Q1 2019 (€3.6mn – last year pre-pandemic), would register a significant +7.6%.
Similarly, growth affected almost all geographical areas: from Europe (including Italy, +3.8% of which Italy +17.8% and other countries in Europe -3.8%), to APAC (+28.9%), Americas (+2.8%) and the Rest of the World (Middle East and Africa, +92.5%).
Massimo Neresini, CEO of SICIT Group, commented: “2021 has started very well, in continuity with an excellent year, such as the previous one, despite the ongoing pandemic. All business areas are growing, with the exception of construction retardants – which perform better than our forecasts and are even up, compared to the first quarter of 2019 (the last pre-pandemic year) – and almost all geographical areas are growing. Among the most significant facts, three factors are worth mentioning: the ever-increasing demand for biostimulants, in which new and important customers are being added, in what is a key business area for us; the availability, for sale, of a purified and de-acidified animal fat of excellent quality, whose sale price is significantly higher than the average prices historically recorded by SICIT and whose impact on revenues will be increasingly seen in the months to come; the excellent availability of delivered tanning residues (which exceeded 40k tonnes, compared to 32k tonnes in the first quarter of 2020), at constant prices compared to 2020, but processing a much more diversified input-residue”.