0CX9 Stora Enso Oyj

HELSINKI, Jan. 31, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- 

Delivering the best full year financial performance in 22 years despite Q4 market challenges

Q4/2022 (year-on-year)

• Sales increased by 5% to EUR 2,864 (2,719) million. Sales excluding Paper increased by 5%.
• Operational EBIT decreased to EUR 355 (426) million. Operational EBIT excluding Paper decreased to EUR 306 (436) million.
• Operational EBIT margin decreased to 12.4% (15.7%).
• Operating profit (IFRS) decreased to EUR 705 (839) million.
• EPS was EUR 0.74 (0.78) and EPS excl. fair valuations (FV) was EUR 0.32 (0.32).
• Cash flow from operations amounted to EUR 429 (619) million. Cash flow after investing activities was EUR 202 (424) million.
• The net debt to operational EBITDA ratio improved to 0.7 (1.1). The target is to keep the ratio below 2.0.
• Operational ROCE excluding the Forest division decreased to 13.2% (20.4%), the target being >13%.

Year 2022 (year-on-year)

• Sales were EUR 11,680 (10,164) million. Sales excluding Paper increased by 17%.
• Operational EBIT was EUR 1,891 (1,528) million. Operational EBIT excluding Paper increased to EUR 1,706 (1,653) million.

Key highlights

• The acquisition of the Dutch De Jong Packaging Group was completed in January 2023.
• The Paper division was discontinued as of 1 January 2023, and the divestments of the Hylte and Maxau paper sites are expected to be completed in H1/2023. The divestment of the Nymölla site was completed in January 2023. The divestment process of the Anjala paper site was discontinued, and the site will be retained in the Group.
• Stora Enso is investing approximately EUR 1 billion in cost-leading high-volume consumer board line at the Oulu site in Finland.
• Stora Enso announced plans to divest its consumer packaging site and forestry operations in Beihai, China.

Dividend proposal

• The Board of Directors will propose an all-time high dividend of EUR 0.60 (EUR 0.55) per share at the Annual General Meeting on 16 March 2023.

Outlook
Stora Enso remains vigilant against persisting market disruptions and uncertainties, macroeconomic environment and inflationary pressures. Stora Enso enters the new year with market softness and variable cost pressures which are expected to be more challenging in 2023 than in 2022 weighing on our results this year. The high macroeconomic uncertainty and continued weak consumer confidence resulting in lower private consumption will continue to impact negatively, especially on containerboard demand. Lower demand in the construction sector remains challenging and is expected to especially impact on the demand for traditional sawn wood. Compared to 2022, Group margins are expected to be squeezed by increasing costs, particularly in relation to energy, wood, chemicals and logistics.

To manage volatility, variable costs are continually reviewed, and preparatory actions are taken to be prepared to respond to fluctuations in demand with reinforced cost control. Other measures such as pricing, flexibility in product mix, capacity and inventory management, and sourcing and logistics are in place. Stora Enso in Finland has completed negotiations on potential furloughs at its Wood Products division, and this year started negotiations on potential furloughs at its Packaging Materials division's production sites. Activities on adjusting capacity to respond to fluctuations in demand have also been put in place for the Wood Products division's sites in other countries. Stora Enso also benefits from its high self-sufficiency in energy of 72% as well as hedging, and from its ~30% self-sufficiency of wood.

The Group has made extensive changes to reshape the business over the past three years under its new leadership and disciplined capital allocation is firmly integrated to the Group's day to day operations. Stora Enso is now financially, operationally and strategically in better shape to handle market fluctuations and at the same time, invest for growth in renewable packaging, sustainable building solutions and biomaterials innovations

Guidance

• Stora Enso's full-year 2023 operational EBIT is expected to be lower than for the full-year 2022 (EUR 1,891 million)

Key figures

Stora Enso's President and CEO Annica Bresky comments on the fourth quarter 2022 results:

"After what has been an exceptional year in many ways, I am proud that we have delivered against our financial guidance for 2022 despite a disruptive, highly inflationary, and challenging environment. We have completed significant strategic projects, while making good progress to invest in strategic assets and innovation for growth in renewable packaging, sustainable building solutions and biomaterials innovations. Our performance in 2022 demonstrates the strength of our leading market positions and our ability to be proactive and agile in making necessary adjustments for a new reality both short and long term.

We have delivered exceptional performance in 2022, with sales of 11,680 million euro and, as in 2021, we have once again achieved a historically high operational EBIT for the full year 2022 of 1,891 million euro, a year-on-year increase of 24% and the highest since 2000. The fourth quarter delivered a sales increase of 5% to 2,864 million euro. The quarter has been characterised by the gloomy general macro-economic outlook along with accelerated market weakness in certain segments such as sawn wood and containerboard. Despite this backdrop, we delivered an operational EBIT of 355 million euro. This was mainly a result of the strong performance of the Biomaterials division, a stable result in the Forest division and a good result in the remaining paper business.

We have taken a number of steps throughout the quarter such as pricing actions, flexibility in capacity management and inventories, and reinforced cost control to mitigate the sharp increase in variable costs and the margin squeeze across the Group. We will continue on this path also going forward until we recover the profitability as we see that 2023 will be a weaker year than in 2022. The relatively high energy self-sufficiency and wood supply, along with strong sourcing operations support us in market fluctuations.

In the Packaging Materials division, we experienced stable demand and market share with a strong order book for consumer board, while market demand and prices weakened in containerboard. Overall, profitability in this division weakened due to margin squeeze from escalated variable costs and lower volumes. The temporarily elevated costs for scheduled annual maintenance shutdowns at some of our largest sites, represented the majority of the maintenance costs for the Group. Renegotiated sales contracts for consumer board during the quarter will gradually compensate inflationary pressures through price increases. In the Packaging Solutions division, demand for corrugated packaging was relatively stable quarter-on-quarter, but lower than in Q4/2021, with a weaker ending to the seasonally strong fourth quarter primarily due to lower consumer confidence.

The whole construction market has been heavily impacted by high inflation and supply chain constraints which impacted the performance of our Wood Products division. Demand for traditional sawn products in our European markets eased in the second half of the year and was followed by our overseas markets showing a similar and accelerated trend in the last quarter of the year. The weakness in this division was further evident in the lower demand for building permits and initiation of fewer building projects and the resulting impact of this rapid market-related slow-down, led to a quarterly loss. One of our focus areas for growth however, Building Solutions, showed a more stable development during the quarter. And as this segment grows as a percentage of our total business, earnings in this division will gradually become less volatile over time.

Delivering on our strategic roadmap

During the year, particularly the last three months, we have executed on many strategic initiatives on our agenda to build resilience, accelerate our growth agenda and reshape the focus of the business.

During the fourth quarter, we also started a process to divest our consumer board and forestry operations in Beihai in China. This divestment will enable us to increase resource allocation to sites with economies of scale which serve a global and growing packaging market including China.

To further our growth strategy, we have exited the majority of our paper business and allocated resources to key strategic areas. We invested in cost-leading cartonboard production at Oulu in Finland and expanded our presence in renewable packaging through the large acquisition of De Jong Packaging Group in The Netherlands with the aim of building market share in Western Europe.

We have entered several new collaborations, partnerships, and joint developments to accelerate innovation, knowledge sharing and market access including monitoring the development of battery technologies within wood-based materials. This month, we are delighted to have signed a partnership with the EV automotive brand Polestar to contribute to their Polestar 0 project of climate neutral car for 2030 with our Lignode material for batteries.

The green transition is expediting our strategy

There is long-term, growing demand for Stora Enso's products globally and we are confident that our strategy will continue to deliver market share gains and sustainable growth from a more resilient and powerful business platform during market downturns.

Innovation and a sustainable business strategy that are closely integrated with our capital allocation, business conduct and design guidelines are key for our long-term success. There are countless national policies around the world being implemented to secure the much-needed green transition. For example, European regulations such as the Single-Use Plastics Directive, the Waste Framework Directive, Construction Products Regulation, the EU Batteries regulation as well as policies like the New European Bauhaus support our innovation initiatives towards the creation of new renewable products. This is reinforced by our ambition of offering 100% regenerative solutions, 100% circular and carbon positive products and achieving net positive biodiversity by 2050.

I am very grateful for the commitment of our teams to deliver innovative products, financial performance, and to meaningfully contribute to a better environment and value for all stakeholders. With our values to "lead" and "do what is right", we will future proof our business for tomorrow and beyond.

The renewable future grows in the forest."

Analysts, investors and media are invited to participate in the webcast with teleconference today at 11:00 EET (10:00 CET, 9:00 GMT, 4:00 EST).
The result will be presented by President and CEO Annica Bresky and CFO Seppo Parvi. The presentation can be followed live via the link: https://ir.financialhearings.com/stora-enso-q4-2022.

During the webcast presentation, analysts and investors will also have the possibility to ask questions. To participate in the teleconference, please register here: https://conference.financialhearings.com/teleconference/?id=5005544.
After registration, you will be provided with a phone number and a conference ID to access the teleconference.

Media representatives who wish to ask questions after the publication of the Financial Report, may contact Carl Norell, press officer at Stora Enso on +46 72 2410349.

The link to the webcast will be also available on Stora Enso's website: storaenso.com/investors.

A recording of the presentation will be available at https://ir.financialhearings.com/stora-enso-q4-2022 and on storaenso.com/en/investors/reports-and-presentations.

This release is a summary of Stora Enso's Financial Statement Release 2022. The complete report is attached to this release as a pdf file. It is also available on the company website at storaenso.com/investors.

Media enquiries:
Carl Norell
Press Officer
tel. +46 72 2410349

Investor enquiries:
Anna-Lena Åström
SVP Investor Relations
tel. +46 70 2107691

Part of the global bioeconomy, Stora Enso is a leading provider of renewable products in packaging, biomaterials, and wooden construction, and one of the largest private forest owners in the world. We believe that everything that is made from fossil-based materials today can be made from a tree tomorrow. Stora Enso has approximately 21,000 employees and Group sales in 2022 of EUR 11.7 billion. Stora Enso shares are listed on Nasdaq Helsinki Oy (STEAV, STERV) and Nasdaq Stockholm AB (STE A, STE R). In addition, the shares are traded in the USA as ADRs (SEOAY). storaenso.com/investors

STORA ENSO OYJ

Media enquiries:
Carl Norell
Press Officer
tel. +46 72 2410349

Investor enquiries:
Anna-Lena Åström
SVP Investor Relations
tel. +46 70 2107691

The following files are available for download:

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