Firstextile AG: Status update on capacity expansion plan
– Supervisory Board visited the new plant on site during the third Supervisory Board meeting of 2014
– Plant expected to begin operation in the second quarter 2015
– Expansion investment size in alignment with the budget
Jiangyin(China) / Frankfurt (Germany), 14th November- Firstextile AG (ISIN: DE000A1PG8V8) held the 3rd Supervisory Board Meeting of 2014 in Jiangyin China on 24th October 2014. As scheduled, the complete Supervisory Board examined the status of the new plant at first hand on this occassion. Management and Supervisory Board also reviewed the status of the budget and expenses for the expansion of the production capacities.
Jiangyin(China) / Frankfurt (Germany), 24thOctober2014- Firstextile AG (ISIN: DE000A1PG8V8) held the 3rd Supervisory Board Meeting of 2014 in Jiangyin China on 24th October 2014. As scheduled, the complete Supervisory Board examined the status of the new plant at first hand on this occassion. Management and Supervisory Board also reviewed the status of the budget and expenses for the expansion of the production capacities.
During the visit, Fred Yang, CEO and founder of Firstextile AG, gave an update on the progress of the capacity expansion to the Supervisory Board. The first machineries will be installed in the first quarter 2015. Thus the new plant is expected to begin operation in the second quarter 2015.
The Management and Supervisory Board also reviewed the up-to-date budget and expenses of the expansion. Richard Cao, CFO of Firstextile AG reported that approx. EUR 23 million had been spent on the expansion including the building construction, interior decoration, equipment foundations and the purchase of the state-of-the-art machineries. According to his estimation, there will be another EUR 15 to 18 million to be paid for the machineries, external finishing and some necessary facilities. By virtue of the Management effort in cost control, the expansion with a total investment size of approx. EUR 40 million will strictly be in alignment with the budget.
Dr. Yann Samson, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Firstextile AG, highly appreciated the current achievement of the capacity expansion project. He commented: “We are very pleased to be the witnesses of the significant progress on the expansion on site. The Management Board of Firstextile AG secured their commitment to the investors that the expansion plan will be completed in good fashion. And more than that, they take very good control of the budget.”
Fred Yang added: “The expansion is establishing a new platform for Firstextile’s future development. Our sales team had purposefully started to exploit market opportunities for the upcoming expansion of the capacity since the second half of this year, with which we will further secure our sales in the coming year.”
Pictures of the visit and the new productions site are available here: http://www.dgap.de/dgap/Companies/?companyId=382328&id=4050
Company profile
Firstextile is the leading manufacturer of high-end yarn-dyed fabric in the Chinese market with a market share of approx. 9% in terms of volume in 2011. It also markets fabric and shirts specifically designed for uniforms used by Chinese government institutions and enterprises, as well as its own branded men’s shirts with the two brands “Varpum” and “Firstextile” for the Chinese premium market segment. The company operates modern production facilities in Jiangyin near Shanghai, China, which is one of the main centres of the Chinese textile industry and it focuses particularly on high product quality. As the company already operates almost at its maximum capacity it plans to use the net proceeds from the successful completion of the IPO in November 2012 and further cash flows to double the current after-finishing capacity of 36 millionmetres to 72 million metres in order to meet future demand. At the same time, weaving capacity is intended to be expanded from short of 11 million metres to 27 million metres and dyeing capacity from 7,900 tons to 15,800 tons.