Borregaard ASA

OSE:BRG

Earnings Call Transcript 2020-Q4

[Per Arthur Sørlie, President & CEO]

Good morning, and welcome to this fourth quarter 2020 presentation from Borregaard. My name is Per Sørlie. I'm the President and CEO of the company, and I will be joined this morning by our CFO, Per Bjarne Lyngstad, and we will take you through the following agenda: the highlights for the quarter and the year; the proposed dividend for 2020; the market situation, market update for the different business segments; and the outlook for next year. And then Per Bjarne Lyngstad will take over and talk about the financial performance in more detail. First, the highlights for the fourth quarter. The EBITDA came in at NOK 263 million, up from NOK 183 million in the same quarter 2019. We had an improved result in all business areas. In BioSolutions, we saw both an improved product mix and lower costs. While in BioMaterials, lower wood and energy costs and high deliveries contributed to a better result. In Bioethanol, a favorable product mix and high deliveries improved the result from a year ago. In pharma intermediates, a favorable product mix was also prevalent. Also in the quarter, we had a particularly strong cash flow that Per Bjarne will come back to later in his presentation. If we take a look at the full year, the EBITDA came in at an all-time high, NOK 1,132 million, up from and NOK 1,007 million in the previous year. We saw an improved result both in Biomaterials and Fine Chemicals, while there was a slight decline in BioSolutions. To continue with BioSolutions, we had, as you may be aware, reduced raw material supply during the year and also, in certain periods, higher distribution costs. And this was partly offset by the improved product mix and the cost reduction. So in total, a fairly balanced result from 1 year to the next. In BioMaterials, we had both lower wood and energy costs and an increased production volume in the year from the previous period and also an improved product mix. In Bioethanol, we had both a higher sales volume and better prices for the year as well as the extraordinary demand that we saw, particularly in the second quarter for -- from disinfectants. The positive net currency impact was approximately NOK 30 million for the year. And also for the full year, we had a strong cash flow. Then on to the dividend proposal for 2020. Just to start off with reminding you about our dividend policy. The policy is to pay regular and progressive dividends, reflecting the expected long-term earnings and cash flows of the group. The annual dividend is targeted between 30% and 50% of net profit. The Board of Directors have proposed a dividend of NOK 2.50 per share for 2020. This is 57% of net earnings and will result in a total dividend payment of approximately NOK 249 million. In the year 2020, we reported under other expenses -- other income and expenses, we reported a net loss of NOK 116 million. And this -- a lot of this is reflecting the discontinued operations that we have in South Africa. And again, a lot of the write-downs there are noncash expenses. Therefore, the Board has made the adjustment that the 57% or NOK 2.50 is justified, based on the fact that the underlying profitability from the discontinued operations is higher than what we have reported. And as such, the NOK 2.50 is well within the 30% to 50% range when you calculate it on the continued operations. Then on to the market side. And first, the BioSolutions market for the fourth quarter. The sales volume came down 14% versus the same quarter in 2019. This was in line with our guidance and expectations. The discontinued raw material that we saw, particularly in South Africa, but also in Spain, was offset by increased sales volume from Florida and reduced inventory. And this was mostly affecting the concrete admixture and low value industrial applications, as we have seen in previous quarters. We also continued to see low demand from oil field chemicals, which is a high value specialty application. On the other hand, sales through agriculture and batteries continued to show good numbers and increased from the same quarter last year. The average price in sales currency came in 4% above the same quarter in 2019, and this was driven by the improved product mix, which is, again, coming out of the reduced sales to concrete admixtures and low value industrial applications. Then on to the full year review. For the full year, the sales volume came down 11% as we lost the raw material supply after -- or at the beginning of the -- as we entered the second quarter. The full year effect is slightly less than what we saw in the last quarters. Again, this discontinued raw material supply came from the South African operation and from the Spanish operation. And also, for an interim period, from the Park Falls or formerly Flambeau operation, which is now back in operation. The sales to concrete admixture and low value industrial applications has, as a consequence of this being reduced. And in Specialties, also for the full year, we saw lower sales to oil field chemicals as a result of the reduced demand, indirect COVID-19 effect. While sales to several other applications increased. So if you look at the overall sales into Specialties, they came up from 86,000 to 88,000 tonnes in spite of the reduction -- significant reduction into oil field chemicals. The Florida sales volume continued to increase in accordance with our ramp-up plan. However, the result is still not satisfactory, and we will continue to implement measures to improve the profitability in Florida. The average price in sales currency is 6% above 2019, and this is due to the improved product mix, again, coming out of reduced sales into concrete admixture and low value industrial applications, meaning that we indirectly increase the average sales price across the portfolio. So then if we move on to BioMaterials in Q4. We had fairly high deliveries in the fourth quarter with about 40,000 tonnes. The -- we continue to see a lower growth rate in the demand for cellulose ethers into Construction. And this is an indirect effect of COVID-19. However, this doesn't mean that there was no growth, but the growth rate was lower than originally expected and projected. The food and pharma applications, on the other hand, continued to show strong growth in the quarter. And we also made some targeted actions -- implemented some targeted actions in the quarter to balance our inventory. So I can say that we entered 2020 with low inventories, and we exited 2020 with fairly normal inventory levels in this business area. The average price in sales currency is 3% above the fourth quarter in 2019. However, then you should keep in mind that in the fourth quarter in 2019, we sold some declassified products at very low prices. So this is reflected in this price increase. Cellulose fibrils continued to see a fairly strong increases in sales, but still at a fairly low overall level. Then if we move on to take a full year review for BioMaterials, we had some reduced sales volumes. The total sales volume came out at 148,000 plus. And this was partly related to COVID-19 effects. However, there was a strong product mix and the sales of highly specialized grades increased to 77%, which you can see is a very strong relation in -- compared to the previous periods, up from 73% last year. As I mentioned, we saw some reduced demand due to COVID-19, and this was particularly in the cellulose ethers to Construction segment. Food and pharma applications, on the other hand, continued to show strong growth throughout the year. And there was a very low prices in the textile cellulose market. However, we have a very limited exposure to these prices since we have reduced our exposure to this market, primarily as a result of the Ice Bear technology investment that we completed a couple of years ago. The average price in sales currency is 1% above 2019, and this is driven by the improved product mix that we saw through the year. And again, growing sales of cellulose fibrils, but not really making a strong impact on the overall numbers. Then a summary of fine chemicals. In the quarter, we had high sales in Bioethanol, but these were primarily deliveries into the biofuel segment. We also saw a favorable product mix and high deliveries in pharma intermediates. So overall, you can see that this came out with sales revenues above NOK 150 million, which is a really high number for this business area. If you look at the full year, we need to remind ourselves about the extraordinary Bioethanol sales to disinfectants that we saw in the second quarter. But we also saw a year-on-year increase in production volume that resulted also contributed to higher sales volume as well as an improved product mix. So the disinfectant gave an improved product mix and the overall production enabled higher sales in this volume in this business area. In the second half, the deliveries were mainly into the biofuel segment as this market normalized, after we saw a real slowdown during the second quarter of this year. The pharma intermediates had increased deliveries for the full year, but with a slightly weaker product mix than we saw in 2019. So overall, a fantastic year for the Fine Chemicals business unit. Then if we move on to the outlook for the first and -- quarter and the full 2021. To start out with BioSolutions, the sales volume in 2021 is forecast to decrease by approximately 10%. And this will mainly depend on raw material supply, it could be slightly less and slightly higher, depending on how the raw material supply develops from our different sources. But a 10% reduction as such is the full year effect of the changes that we saw as we entered the second quarter in 2020. Again, this will have a positive effect on our product mix and average price because we think that we will optimize the portfolio, the remaining 90% of the volume. However, still some COVID-19 effects will have to be expected. And particularly, this will be inside certain specialty applications and oil field chemicals have been mentioned already as an example. The market conditions for biovanillin expected to be unchanged. And the ongoing capacity expansion will be completed according to plan in mid-2021. We also expect to see full cost of the -- effect of the cost savings from the upgrade of the lignin operation in Norway during 2021. We have earlier reported that we have had a gradual impact during 2020 and full effect in Germany in 2020, but also in -- going into Norway, we will see a full effect of the approximate NOK 60 million reduction. But keep in mind that some of that already is reflected in 2020 as well. Then on to BioMaterials. Average price expected to be 2% to 3% below the 2020 level. And this is mainly related to price development in markets affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. On the positive side, however, the total sales volume and the volume of highly specialized grades are expected to increase in 2021. In the first quarter, the total sales volume is expected to be higher than we saw in the first quarter in 2020 and with a similar product mix. We continue to see lower wood costs, but as on the other hand, we also have to expect some increase in energy costs and freight rates in the first half of 2021. We expect that the sales growth will continue in cellulose fibrils, new development and customer trials will be delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, as we have seen in the last 3 quarters of 2020 as well. Fine Chemicals, no major changes expected in the market conditions for Fine Chemicals into pharma intermediates. Bioethanol sales will primarily be into the biofuel segment in 2021. We do not expect a repeat of the second quarter 2020 with peak sales into disinfectants. It will be all primarily biofuel in 2021. Possible further consequences of COVID-19 may, of course, affect Borregaard's business. But on the other hand, we can all hope that things will normalize as we progress into 2021. So that completes the outlook for 2021 and the first quarter. And now I'll leave over to my colleague, Per Bjarne Lyngstad, to take you through the financial numbers in more detail.

[Per Bjarne Lyngstad, Chief Financial Officer]

Thank you, Per, and good morning, everyone. Borregaard's operating revenues increased by 8% compared with the fourth quarter of 2019 as a result of higher sales in BioMaterials and Fine Chemicals. EBITDA reached NOK 263 million compared with NOK 183 million in the same quarter of 2019. All business areas improved their results in the quarter. In the fourth quarter of 2019, operational incidents at the Sarpsborg site had a negative impact on EBITDA of approximately NOK 35 million. Net currency effects were negative by NOK 5 million compared with the fourth quarter 2019. The EBITDA margin was 19.7% in the fourth quarter, about 5 percentage points higher than in the corresponding quarter in 2019. Earnings per share increased to NOK 1.21 compared with NOK 0.38. Earnings per share was negatively affected by minus NOK 20 million in other income and expenses, due to environmental accruals for preventive measures related to former operations at the Sarpsborg site. On the other hand, net financial items and tax expenses were NOK 23 million lower than in the same quarter of 2019. For the full year, the operating revenues increased by 5%. EBITDA reached NOK 1,132 million compared with NOK 1,007 million in 2019. BioMaterials and Fine Chemicals had improved results while BioSolutions had a slight decline. The net currency impact was positive by NOK 30 million for the full year. The EBITDA margin ended at 21.2%, compared with 19.9% in 2019. Return on capital employed was 11.4%, an improvement of close to 1 percentage points from 2019. Earnings per share increased to NOK 4.36. The earnings per share were negatively affected by NOK 116 million in other expenses, mainly due to impairment of assets and restructuring costs related to the discontinued operations in South Africa and Spain and environmental accruals for preventive measures related to former operations at the Sarpsborg site. Operating revenues in BioSolutions were 1% higher compared with the fourth quarter of 2019. For the full year, operating revenues increased by 3%, mainly from currency effects. 13% lower sales volume in the quarter and 11% lower for the full year, only marginally affected the top line. As reduced sales from the South African joint venture only had marginal impact on the top line because we apply the equity method for accounting of the joint venture. This means that Borregaard's share of profit after tax in the joint venture is the single entry affecting Borregaard's profit and loss statement. EBITDA was NOK 137 million in the fourth quarter compared with NOK 131 million in the fourth quarter 2019. Lower operating costs and improved product mix for biopolymers was partly offset by negative net currency effects. Lower operating costs were mainly related to the upgrade of the biopolymer operation in Norway and the restructuring in Germany. For the full year, EBITDA was NOK 632 million compared with NOK 647 million in 2019. For the full year, higher distribution costs were partly offset by improved product mix for biopolymers, cost reductions and favorable net currency effects. The Q4 EBITDA margin of 18.7% was slightly above the margin in the fourth quarter of 2019. For the full year, the EBITDA margin was 20.5%, 1.2 percentage points below 2019. In BioMaterials, operating revenues increased by 10% compared with the fourth quarter of 2019. For the full year, operating revenues increased by 1%, mainly from currency effects and improved product mix. EBITDA was NOK 80 million compared with NOK 31 million in the corresponding quarter 2019. The operational incidents at the Sarpsborg site in the fourth quarter of 2019, particularly affected BioMaterials and resulted in reduced production volume and the classified products, which were sold at lower prices. In addition, the result in the fourth quarter improved due to lower wood and energy costs as well as high deliveries of Specialty Cellulose. The net currency impact was insignificant in the quarter. For the full year, EBITDA increased to NOK 318 million compared with NOK 234 million in 2019. The improvement was due to lower wood and energy costs, higher production volume, improved product mix and a positive net currency impact. Sales of cellulose fibrils were growing in 2020 and higher sales volume and cost reductions compensated for the reduced EU Horizon 2020 grant, which ended in April last year. The EBITDA percent or margin improved significantly, both in the fourth quarter and for the full year. For Fine Chemicals, operating revenues were close to 50% above the same quarter in 2019. For the full year, operating revenues increased by 34%. EBITDA increased to NOK 46 million in the fourth quarter, compared with NOK 21 million in the same quarter of 2019. For the full year, EBITDA was NOK 182 million compared with NOK 126 million in 2019. In the fourth quarter, both sales and EBITDA in Fine Chemicals increased due to a favorable product mix and high deliveries for pharma intermediates as well as higher sales volume for Bioethanol. Bioethanol also had increased production and reduced variable costs in the quarter. The net currency effect was negligible, both in the fourth quarter and for the full year. For the full year, the Bioethanol result improved significantly due to the extraordinary demand from disinfectants in the second quarter and higher production and sales volume. The full year result for pharma intermediates was in line with 2019. The net currency impact on EBITDA was negative by NOK 5 million in the fourth quarter. The negative impact came from increased hedging losses, partly offset by a slightly weaker Norwegian kroner, which weakened by close to 1% compared with the fourth quarter 2019 using Borregaard's currency basket. Hedging losses were NOK 44 million compared with NOK 32 million in the fourth quarter of 2019. For the full year, the net currency impact on EBITDA was positive by about NOK 30 million. Hedging losses were NOK 241 million compared with NOK 76 million in 2019. Using currency rates as of yesterday, the net currency impact for the full year of 2021 is estimated to be minus NOK 10 million compared with 2020. The corresponding impact for the first quarter of 2021 is also estimated to be minus NOK 10 million compared with the first quarter of 2020. Borregaard's hurdle rates for extended hedging have been revised by the Board of Directors. For U.S. dollars, the hurdle at $7.50 versus the Norwegian krone has been removed and extended hedging will now gradually increase between $8 and $8.50 versus NOK. For euro, the extended hedging now will gradually increase between EUR 9.25 and EUR 9.75 versus previously a hurdle at EUR 8.50. And the hurdle rates have been revised due to the change in the long-term average for U.S. dollars and euro versus the Norwegian kroner. Borregaard had a strong cash flow from operating activities in the fourth quarter due to a significant reduction in net working capital, the cash effect from an improved EBITDA as well as reduced tax payments. For the full year, the cash flow from operating activities improved by close to NOK 200 million, due to increased EBITDA, a less unfavorable development in net working capital and lower tax payments. Investments were slightly lower compared with the fourth quarter of 2019 and below our latest forecast. The lower-than-expected spend was mainly related to larger projects, which will result in carryover of spend to 2021. Net interest-bearing debt decreased by as much as NOK 320 million in the fourth quarter, mainly because of the reduction in net working capital and currency effects from translation and hedging of equity in foreign subsidiaries. At the end of 2020, Borregaard is well capitalized with an equity ratio of close to 54%. And a leverage ratio, which is net interest-bearing debt over EBITDA, of 1.58. We have updated our investment forecast for 2021, mainly with the carryover from 2020. The forecast for 2022 and 2023 are unchanged. For 2021, total investments are forecast at NOK 550 million with uncertainty of plus/minus NOK 60 million. Over time, replacement investments are targeted at depreciation level. However, due to the large upgrade of the caustic soda production facility and carryover from 2020, we believe it's likely that we will be above the target in 2021. The main expansion project in 2021 is the capacity increase for wood-based vanillin, which is expected to be completed mid-2021. Also for this project, we had carryover from 2020. The uncertainty in spend and speed in investments projects have increased due to the pandemic and travel restrictions for foreign suppliers. Potential new projects, which so far are unknown or have not been communicated, may lead to additional investments. And that concludes today's presentation. If you have questions, please contact Borregaard's Investor Relations by phone or email. Thank you for your attention.