After a highly unstable first half of 2020 dominated by the Covid-19 pandemic, the US flooring giant Mohawk Industries posted stronger than expected growth in the third quarter of the year.

The company had announced a fairly substantial decline in net sales in the first six months of 2020 (-14%, or $4.3 billion compared to the $5 billion of the same period in 2019), but business picked up again in the third quarter of the year, generating net sales of $2.6 billion (up 2% on the $2.5 billion of 2019) and offsetting the previous months’ losses. Net earnings increased from $156 million in the third quarter of 2019 to $205 million in the same period in 2020.

Overall, the results unveiled by the Calhoun, Georgia-based multinational reveal a smaller than expected contraction during the first nine months of the year. For the 2020 nine-month period, net sales were $6.9 billion, a decrease of 8% from the $7.5 billion of the same period in 2019 (or -7% on a constant currency and days basis). Net earnings totaled $267 million compared to the $480 million to September 2019.

In the third quarter of 2020, Global Ceramic Segment sales (Daltile, American Olean, Eliane, Marazzi, Emilgroup, Ragno, Kerama Marazzi, Kai) were almost back to 2019 levels with a decline of 0.56% (+2% on a constant currency and days basis) and generated sales of $911 million ($2.5 in the nine month period). This marked an exceptional recovery with respect to the second quarter, when Covid-related closures led to a 21% decline in sales and operating losses of $34 million.

Read the complete article published in Ceramic World Review 139/2020