Mannok published its overview of its operating performance in 2020 today, Thursday and it showed the company managed to reduce its net debt by €19 million.

For the 12 months up until December 31, 2020 cash generation from operating activities improved by over 44 per cent from €21.7 million to €31.3 million which aided in the reduction of net debt by €19.4 million.

Earnings before Interest, Tax, Depreciation and Amortisation (EBITDA) increased from €26.6 million to €31.1 million while revenue remained consistent at €233 million compared to €234 million in 2019.

The company also reported good sales and margin increases across cement and packaging and this was partly offset by higher raw material costs for insulation products.

€6.7 million was invested, primarily in manufacturing technology and capacity enhancement and it brought the total investment since the acquisition of the business in December, 2014 to €66 million. There is a further €6.1 million of investment already in train in 2021.

Commenting, Liam McCaffrey, Chief Executive Officer said: “The safety and welfare of our staff and their families has been, and remains, of paramount importance through the pandemic. As an organisation with operations on both sides of the border, we are enormously grateful for the support and commitment of our 800+ colleagues in helping to navigate the twin challenges of Covid 19 and the Brexit transition. Careful resource planning and operational agility, facilitated by the significant investment we have made in our sales support, logistics and customs management infrastructure, have ensured uninterrupted supply chains for our customers across the construction and food industries on the island of Ireland and in Great Britain.

“Post the initial lockdown, trading recovered strongly in the second half of the year, supported by approximately €66m of new investment over the past six years. While the business has experienced some impact on trading activities over recent months, with a number of customer projects being delayed as a result of Covid 19, underlying demand has remained strong. Given our ongoing exposure to the food and construction sectors, the very positive response to our rebranding and the potential tail-wind of a vaccine-driven economic recovery, the outlook for 2021 is positive.”

Commenting, Chief Financial Officer, Dara O’Reilly said “Through timely adjustment to our manufacturing levels during the initial lockdown, we succeeded in managing our cost base and resource allocation whilst ensuring seamless supplies to essential industries. We continue to monitor our markets very closely as well as the supply of key input materials for our Insulation and Packaging businesses in particular. Notwithstanding a positive outlook and good demand, we are expecting some margin compression as a result of inflationary cost pressures in 2021.”