Kemira Oyj, Interim Report, October 26, 2021 at 8.30 am (EEST)

Kemira Oyj’s Interim Report January-September 2021: Record quarterly revenue

This is a summary of the January-September 2021 Interim Report. The complete Interim Report with tables is attached to this release and available at https://www.kemira.com/company/investors/.  

Third quarter:

•   Revenue increased by 16% to EUR 692.7 million (596.7). Revenue in local currencies, excluding acquisitions and divestments, increased by 16% as sales volumes and sales prices increased. 

•   Operative EBITDA increased by 3% to EUR 115.9 million (113.0) following higher sales prices and sales volumes. The operative EBITDA margin decreased to 16.7% (18.9%) due to clearly higher raw material prices. EBITDA was EUR 109.5 million (109.8). The differences between operative and reported figures are explained by items affecting comparability, which were mainly related to restructuring costs. 

•   Operative EBIT increased by 3% to EUR 64.5 million (62.3). EBIT decreased by 5% to EUR 56.4 million (59.1). 

•   Cash flow from operating activities was EUR 86.9 million (117.3). 

•   EPS (diluted) increased by 1% to EUR 0.25 (0.24). 

January-September:

•   Revenue increased by 7% to EUR 1,956.2 million (1,821.6). Revenue in local currencies, excluding acquisitions and divestments, increased by 10% mainly due to higher sales volumes.

•   Operative EBITDA was EUR 327.8 million (327.2). The operative EBITDA margin decreased to 16.8% (18.0%) following clearly higher raw material prices. EBITDA decreased by 6% to EUR 303.7 million (322.0). The differences between operative and reported figures are explained by items affecting comparability, which were mainly related to a damage claim settlement and restructuring costs.

•   Operative EBIT decreased by 1% to EUR 178.4 million (180.7). EBIT decreased by 13% to EUR 152.5 million (175.6).

•   Cash flow from operating activities was EUR 139.4 million (228.3).

•   EPS (diluted) decreased by 9% to EUR 0.65 (0.71), mainly due to a damage claim settlement in Q2 2021.

Outlook for 2021 (unchanged)
Revenue
Kemira's revenue in local currencies, excluding acquisitions and divestments, is expected to increase from 2020 (EUR 2,427 million).

Operative EBITDA
Kemira's operative EBITDA is expected to be at the same or at a slightly (less than 5%) lower level than in 2020 (EUR 435 million).

Assumptions behind outlook (specified)
The COVID-19 pandemic continues to cause uncertainty, but Kemira's end-market demand is expected to remain strong in Q4 2021 following ongoing global economic growth. The outlook assumes no significant disruptions to Kemira's operations. Strong inflationary pressure is expected to continue in Q4 2021. Currencies are expected to have a negative impact on full-year 2021 operative EBITDA.  

Kemira’s President and CEO Jari Rosendal:
"Demand continued to grow strongly during Q3 2021. Kemira's revenue grew by 16% to EUR 693 million, a record quarterly figure in a seasonally strong quarter. Organic growth was 16% and organic growth excluding the Oil & Gas business was 11%. Operative EBITDA was EUR 116 million while the operative EBITDA margin was 16.7%. Profitability was impacted by significantly higher raw material prices and logistics costs. Our actions to mitigate higher input costs continued with results increasingly visible in Q3 2021.

In Pulp & Paper, revenue increased by 11%. Demand was strong across customer segments and regionally particularly in the Americas and EMEA regions. The operative EBITDA margin was 16.2%.

In Industry & Water, revenue grew by 23% driven particularly by higher demand in oil sands tailings treatment and shale. We saw good demand also in our water treatment business across the regions. Segment's operative EBITDA margin was strong at 17.4%.

Our new investments in the U.S. and South Korea are ramping up currently and our coagulant expansion in the UK is expected to ramp up during Q4 2021. These investments will support our profitable growth strategy. In addition, we announced an expansion of ASA sizing chemicals in China during Q3 2021. This will further strengthen our market-leading position in sizing products and enable us to capture growing demand in APAC.

We have kept our outlook for 2021 unchanged. We expect the impact from strong inflationary pressures to continue in the coming quarters, particularly in Q4 2021. As a result, we will continue our cost mitigation actions to defend margins.

In October, Kemira's Board of Directors decided on the payment date of the second dividend installment of EUR 0.29, which will be paid to shareholders on November 4, 2021.

To conclude, I would like to thank our stakeholders for their trust. Thanks to our committed personnel, we have been able to ensure our customers' business continuity also in this challenging operating environment."

KEY FIGURES AND RATIOS

*12-month rolling average

Unless otherwise stated, all comparisons in this report are compared to the corresponding period in 2020.

Kemira provides certain financial performance measures (alternative performance measures) that are not defined by IFRS. Kemira believes that alternative performance measures followed by capital markets and Kemira management, such as revenue growth in local currencies, excluding acquisitions and divestments (=organic growth), EBITDA, operative EBITDA, operative EBIT, cash flow after investing activities, and gearing, provide useful information about Kemira’s comparable business performance and financial position. Selected alternative performance measures are also used as performance criteria in remuneration. 

Kemira’s alternative performance measures should not be viewed in isolation from the equivalent IFRS measures, and alternative performance measures should be read in conjunction with the most directly comparable IFRS measures. Definitions of the alternative performance measures can be found in the definitions of the key figures in this report, as well as at www.kemira.com > Investors > Financial information. All the figures in this report have been individually rounded, and consequently the sum of the individual figures may deviate slightly from the total figure presented.

FINANCIAL TARGETS  

Kemira aims for above-market revenue growth with an operative EBITDA margin of 15-18%. The target for gearing is below 75%.

Helsinki, October 25, 2021 

Kemira Oyj 

Board of Directors  

FINANCIAL REPORTING SCHEDULE 2022

Financial Statements Bulletin for January-December 2021        February 11, 2022
Interim report for January-March 2022                                       April 27, 2022
Half-year financial report for January-June 2022                       July 15, 2022
Interim report for January-September 2022                                October 25, 2022
Annual report for 2021 will be published the week starting February 14, 2022.
Annual General Meeting is scheduled to be held on Thursday, March 24, 2022.