Xerium to continue repositioning in 2016

The company plans to have 1,000 new positions in 2016 in order to have a better cost structure, more responsive lead times, improved machine performance and new product designs.

It completed a major chunk of its material repositioning programme in 2015, and has installed over 1,000 new positions with successful pre-trials.

Commenting on the repositioning plans for 2016, Harold Bevis, CEO and president of Xerium Technologies said, “The 2016 and go-forward capex requirements are materially smaller. We need to re-install the equipment in new plants and re-purpose them with our new market-winning designs, but the cash investments will be materially less.”

“The second half of 2015 was a crossover point for Xerium as it headed into 2016. The permanent closure of graphical grade paper machine capacity was in full effect, and the company's results were negatively impacted. But this is temporary, and is confirmation of the need to permanently reposition the company away from exposure to these issues,” he informed.

“Xerium will be cash-generative going forward, beginning in Q1 2016. The repositioning plan is not designed to catch up to competition, but instead to beat and exceed them,” he added.

The decline in the graphical grade market affected the company's 2015 sales negatively. It reported total sales of $477.24 million last year as compared to $542.93 million in 2014.

Net loss for 2015 was $4.38 million as compared to $7.38 million in 2014. Diluted net loss per share was $0.28 as compared to $0.48 in the previous year. (MCJ)

Fibre2Fashion News Desk – India