Clextral’s global expansion reaps benefits in challenging 2009 economy

Clextral and its subsidiaries achieved a 45,3 million euro turnover in 2009: 80% in export sales and 70% in sales in the non-Euro area.

Clextral’s well-balanced global interests (extrusion, drying, couscous and pasta, DKM pumps), paid off during the recent global economic slump as the company’s activities remained dynamic in some major markets: China, India, the Middle East and Latin America.

Clextral achieved an operating profit exceeding 4% in 2009. This success is significant as it integrates the company’s commitment to apply 4% of profits for Research & Development to ensure long-term growth of the company, a plan fully supported by its shareholder Legris Industries.

In Australia, the new R&D platform (installed in mid-2008) to develop Clextral’s patented process of extrusion-porosification made great strides towards commercial and industrial deployment. This revolutionary process makes porous powders with technology that uses approximately 30% less energy than traditional processes.

With a continued focus on sustainable development, Clextral organized a partnership with other specialized French companies in 2009 to develop solutions for making green-composite materials. In addition to reducing the weight of final products, these bio-based composites offer significantly reduced carbon footprints.

Finally, Clextral continued its worldwide expansion in 2009 with the opening of an office in Casablanca, Morocco. Clextral provides world-class twin screw extrusion and couscous lines from 9 offices worldwide, with local service to customers in 87 countries. In 2009, the volume of service activities exceeded the record level achieved in 2008.

Based on a surge in North American activity at the beginning of 2010, Clextral is on the way towards another banner year with the goal of sales volume exceeding 50 million Euros, to match the 2008 record (54,8 million Euro order intake).

Clextral’s commitment to quality and the environment is evident with the renewal of ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 certifications in 2009, a direction the company will continue in 2010.