The Elmo Leather Group are one of the world’s ten largest manufacturers of upholstery leather for the furniture and automotive industries. Group sales rose 21% to SEK881.5 million (729.5 million) due to increased volumes and prices which compensated for significantly higher raw material prices (there are 10.27 Swedish krona to the US$).
The year included the purchase of Swewi of Denmark, renamed Elmo Leather A/S of Denmark, who contributed sales of around SEK35 million. Of total group sales Europe accounted for 44%, North America 44% and the rest of the world 12%, representing a 2% swing towards Europe.
Profit after net financial items climbed 90% to SEK52.2 million (27.5 million). If non-comparable items from 1999 are excluded, the profit increase was 29%. The main reasons for the improvement were strong demand, higher volumes, high utilisation and continued rationalisation aimed at achievinggreater efficiency in production.
