Lenzing has reported a net profit of €94.6 million for the first half of 2016, which represents an increase of 83.9 percent over the same period of last year. The Austria-based maker of botanic cellulose fiber attributed this strong performance to the implementation of a new strategy focusing on environmentally-friendly specialty fibers. The company had recently announced it would expand its production capacities for specialty fibers by 35,000 tons by 2018 through a €100 million investment. Consolidated revenues in the first half of 2016 rose by 8.3 percent to €1,034.8 million despite largely unchanged production volumes, thanks to higher fiber selling prices and an attractive product mix compared with the first half of 2015. The company also benefited from the increase of spot market prices for viscose fibers. Lenzing said it also expects a positive business performance for the full year as compared to 2015.