Masonite International has made an upward adjustment in its forecast for this year due to the good development in business in the first quarter. The company is currently working from the assumption of growth of 12-15 % in sales revenue for the year as a whole. A figure of US$435-455m is expected for adjusted EBITDA. In February, the company had initially forecasted an increase of 7-10 % in sales revenue and adjusted EBITDA of US$415-445m.
The development in the first quarter was characterised by favourable currency effects and heavy demand for residential products. Net sales revenue rose by 17.3 % to US$646.3m compared to preceding year. Roughly 14 % of the growth is due to increases in prices and roughly 2 % to currency effects. The significantly higher sales volumes in the residential segment were largely offset by reductions in sales volume in large-scale commercial project business. As such, the total sales volume had hardly any effect on the development in sales revenue.
The company succeeded in offsetting the sharp rise in raw-product and logistics costs recently by means of price adjustments. Adjusted EBITDA improved by 25.2 % to US$102.0m; the margin calculated on this basis was 15.8 %. The operating result increased 41.2 % to US$73.4m. Growth of 54.3 % was achieved in the pre-tax earnings to US$62.8m. Net profit amounted to US$47.0m, an increase of 57.2 %.
