(AOF) – Sales of Delta Plus, a company present in the personal protective equipment (PPE) market, decreased by 10.7% (-11.4 million euros) in the first quarter of 2024 and reached 95.9 million euros. By adjusting the 2023 turnover to take into account a reduction of -2.3 million Euros linked to activities in Argentina, detailed below, the drop in sales is limited to 8.7%, i.e. – 9.1 million euros for the same period.
As anticipated, the group began 2024 with a contraction in its activity, a combination of several factors: an unfavorable base effect compared to the first quarter of 2023 which had been marked by strong growth (+10.6% at constant scope and exchange rates); a negative exchange rate effect, continuing with the last months of 2023. It amounts to -7 million euros in the first quarter, representing an impact of -6.5% on the change in turnover.
It should be noted the significant weight of the depreciation of the Argentine peso against the euro, which alone contributes to a negative exchange rate effect of -5.8 million euros over the first three months of the year.
The group, which recorded a record level of turnover in 2023 at 420.6 million euros, confirms for 2024 an objective of further organic growth in its turnover, despite a macroeconomic context and geopolitics still very uncertain, and an unfavorable base effect in the first half, as indicated by the first quarter figures.
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Rail investment plan
The French railway industry is in second place in Europe and third place worldwide. This industry displays a trade surplus, which generates more than 100,000 jobs in France. The announcement of the future plan for French rail transport provides in particular for the regeneration and modernization of the network, the average age of which is 30 years in our territory. This age is much higher than that of countries like Germany (17 years) and Switzerland (15 years). An annual investment increasing from 2.8 billion euros to nearly 4 billion euros should make it possible to maintain the entire network in good condition.