Heytex Bramsche GmbH manufactures laminated and coated technical textiles and textile print media. The latter are used in the advertising industry and in exhibition construction, for example as banners on façades or translucent advertising media. Their manufacture is Heytex’s core business; with its broad product range, the company is the technological and European market leader in this sector and is widely known as a brand name. One of the defining features of technical textiles is their functionality, i.e. that they are of low inflammability, are water-resistant or scratchproof. They are used as truck tarpaulins, tents or for airdomes, but also as oil barriers, for example in open bodies of water, as drinking water containers and in advertising. Thanks to its broad product range, Heytex is relatively independent of economic developments in certain end-customer sectors and is certainly not reliant on individual customers. In addition, this gives it the opportunity to set itself apart from other suppliers. We also liked the fact that the company can manufacture the technologically sophisticated products that are in demand in the industrial sector, and can do this even in small batch sizes while remaining profitable.

The plan at the start of the investment was to expand the company’s sales activities considerably. The focus was on forging ahead with internationalisation. The acquisition of the US company Bondcote, which has a similar product portfolio, allowed a key component of this strategy to be implemented. The plan is to increase the company’s market share for technical textiles; Heytex is to use the high degree of market fragmentation to achieve above-average growth with its high-quality products. Operational improvement measures will serve to boost profitability.

The sales organisation has been reorganised since the start of the investment. It turned out that there was a larger backlog than originally expected. In the US, sales activities are now organised via the subsidiary Bondcote. The location in China has been successfully restructured; operational improvement measures have made considerable progress in both German locations.

Heytex’ revenues in the financial year 2018 are under the previous year’s level, meaning that they will be significantly lower than originally expected. In one division, prices had to be increased due to higher raw material costs; this had a negative impact on order intake. In another segment, revenues remained below budget due to the fact that sufficient quantities of intermediate products could not be supplied. Earnings are not expected to reach the previous year’s level, also being negatively impacted by foreign exchange effects.

Heytex plans to continue to implement its growth strategy. This includes developing innovative product solutions and global moves to optimise production. Revenues and earnings are expected to increase again in 2019.