Injection moulder Nolato sees change of leadership

Photo by Nolato Medical Nolato Contour's clean room in Baldwin, US.

Leadership at the Swedish technical plastics injection moulder Nolato is changing with the retirement of its president and CEO Hans Porat early next year.

The 60-year-old chief executive will step down when the group’s 2015 year-end results are unveiled on 4 February 2016 and will be succeeded by the head of Nolato Medical, Christer Wahlquist.

Over 10 years in charge, 44-year-old Wahlquist has “successfully developed” the pharmaceutical and medical products division to become a global player with operations in Europe, North America and Asia, said the group.

“With his broad experience and in-depth knowledge of Nolato, Christer Wahlquist is the right person to continue the highly successful development of Nolato over recent years,” commented Fredrik Arp, chairman of the Nolato board.

Referring to Porat’s service which dates back to 2008, the chairman said, “Under Hans’ leadership, Nolato has achieved strong international growth and significantly improved margins, resulting in high returns for shareholders”.

Nolato is in the process of selecting a replacement for Wahlquist to run the medical products offshoot, it said.

Meanwhile, the Torekov, Sweden-based group reported strong earnings and profit margin performance in the third quarter of 2015.

During the period, Nolato’s operating profit rose 27% to almost €15.3m on sales which totalled nearly €117m.

Nolato Medical sales achieved €39.6m sales and its EBITA rose significantly to almost €5.5m. The EBITA margin grew to a strong 13.9%, the group stated.

“Performance (overall) in the quarter was helped by a good product mix,” said Hans Porat. “Nolato Medical’s high activity and healthy project state is providing us with a good basis for future growth.”

Last year, the medical products business continued to expand with plant extensions in China and Hungary allowing for future growth. At its operation in Mosonmagyaróvár in north western Hungary, the division completed its latest €4.1m project adding 3,700 square metres to the production area.