Selena Group, one of the leading producers and distributors of construction chemicals and the owner of the TYTAN brand, in 2019 posted a net profit increase of 49% YoY to PLN 39.7 million. In this period, revenue exceeded PLN 1.3 billion, up 8% YoY, while EBIT rose by 22% to PLN 63.6 million. In 2019, the company maintained its sales dynamics on the back of organic growth. Its gross profit margin increased as well, helped by a higher share of innovative products and favourable raw material prices.
In 2019, Selena Group continued to grow in all of its key foreign markets, including: Ukraine, China, Kazakhstan, Romania, Spain, the USA and Central Europe, but also in Brazil, Turkey and Russia. The company’s results, including margins, were adversely affected by the higher production cost caused by salary increases driven by the situation in the labour market, and higher electricity costs.
“2019 was a year of very intensive work for Selena Group, with strong tailwinds that helped us deliver robust financial performance and ensure customer satisfaction in more than 100 markets around the world. The sales increase was achieved on the back of organic growth, a higher share of innovative products in sales and favourable raw material prices. Additional factors which contributed to the net profit increase of almost 50% vs. 2018 include cost discipline and a strong result on financial activities. Other performance drivers included the consistently implemented business assumptions, the strong organisational structure, the experienced management board, our corporate values and highly efficient and committed employees. The efforts of our entire international team has resulted in sales increases in all geographies and in most product groups. This superior performance is primarily founded upon the effects of our strategy based on focus on the user and our innovative products developed by the international R&D teams coordinated by Selena Labs in Dzierżoniów. It is worth emphasising that in all cases our dynamics is higher than the GDP growth or the construction output – this means that we are growing faster than the market”, said Krzysztof Domarecki, the Management Board President, summarising Selena Group’s operations in 2019.
2020 poses challenges for the global economy, with the coronavirus outbreak impacting all industries and societies. This situation requires us to make fast decisions and adapt to new conditions. To efficiently manage the situation it is necessary to anticipate its effects before they materialise, and prepare appropriate scenarios.
“With companies in 17 countries around the world, we are trying to estimate the global effects that the outbreak has on the activities of the entire Selena Group. The coronavirus may affect the construction industry in those countries which introduced full lockdown, with industry brought to a standstill and suspended work at construction sites. These are primarily China, Italy, Spain and Turkey. However, these measures did not last long – we can already see most markets slowly returning to life. We are seeing positive developments in China, where we have two production plants which were closed at the beginning of the year due to Covid-19 – they are currently operating, with no cases of illness among employees. Customers are placing orders and we are noting an increase in internal market activity. We are also executing export orders. Looking at the situation in Poland, I think that the planned construction projects are and will be continued, and the slow return to life before the epidemic and the opening of the economy in China augur well for us, showing that with a special regime we will emerge unscathed from this situation. However, the safety of our employees and customers will always be a priority for us”, says Krzysztof Domarecki, the CEO of Selena FM S.A.
In accordance with the needs of users and the megatrends of the modern world, Selena Group is focusing more and more on pro-environmental and sustainable development activities. When developing new solutions, Selena Group places an emphasis on three aspects: safety – of the people who will live or work in given buildings; natural environment – in terms of direct contact by workers and inhabitants, but in a broader sense – in the context of environmental impact of the materials production process or the construction process, among other things; and construction efficiency – understood as the speed of development.
Selena consistently launches products that reduce heat losses in buildings and external noise, and which also increase the comfort of living in an apartment or a building. Tytan Professional Energy 2020 is a foam characterised by high thermal insulation as it reduces heat loss at window edges to 60% – at relatively low environmental costs in terms of the foam’s production. In the case of foam adhesives, a segment in which Selena is a world leader, the speed and ease of construction and bonding partition walls, polystyrene boards and plasterboards is very important. The process may be significantly less burdensome for the environment than building by means of any other technology. Furthermore, no water or electricity is needed on the construction site, which has a positive effect on the environment and projects costs while increasing the contractor’s comfort. Another example is the solutions which reduce the demand for energy – for both heating and cooling. One of such solutions is the COOL-R® waterproofing roof coating, which protects roofs in logistics centres and manufacturing plants against excessive absorption of heat from solar radiation. Selena Labs, our R&D team, is also involved in projects based on working with bio-renewable raw materials under the Horizon 2020 programme, the EENSULATE and BioMotive projects.