Elopak ASA reports all-time high quarterly revenues in Q3-2024 with EBITDA margin at 15.5 %. The revenue growth comes from Pure-Pak® carton and closure volume growth in Europe and Americas, both through new business and increased market share, as well as strong filling machine sales. Revenue for the full year is expected to be in line with the current run rate, with an EBITDA margin above 15 %.
Q3 2024 highlights:
All-time-high quarterly revenues of EUR 292.8 million (EUR 283.5 million) with an organic revenue growth of 3.6 %
Continued strong profitability with EBITDA of EUR 45.4 million and margin of 15.5 %
“Repackaging tomorrow” strategy and new mid-term targets presented at Elopak’s first Capital Markets Day in September
Decision to invest additional USD 25 million in second production line in the new US plant
Commenting on Elopak’s performance, CEO Thomas Körmendi said: “I am pleased to see that we continue to deliver profitable growth through new business and increased market share across our core markets, as well as strong filling machine sales. Recording all-time high quarterly revenue in a quarter with challenging market conditions where consumer spending is strained in many markets and capacity constraints and supply chain challenges in the Americas, demonstrates the resilience of our revenue run rate. Also in the quarter, we have decided to double the production capacity in the US already now, prior to starting production during the first half of next year. The investment in a second line in the production plant is a direct response to the continued strong demand for our solutions”.
Symrise AG reliably continued its profitable growth course in 2020 despite the challenging environment. The Group increased its sales by 3.3 % to € 3,520 million taking into account portfolio and currency translation effects. In organic terms, sales went up by 2.7 %. The Group thus significantly outperformed market growth, which is estimated at 1.0 % for 2020. At the same time, Symrise stayed behind its defined sales target, as the business development in the month of December was impacted by a criminal cyber-attack. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) rose by 5.8 % to € 742 million in 2020. Profitability reached an outstanding level with an EBITDA margin of 21.1 % and was within the expected margin range. Against the backdrop of the good performance, the Executive Board and the Supervisory Board propose a dividend increase to € 0.97 for the fiscal year 2020 to the annual general meeting.
You can find the complete company report here.
Acquisition of Cott’s bottling activities
On July 25, 2017, Refresco announced the signing of a definitive agreement with Cott to acquire Cott’s bottling activities for $ 1.25 billion, creating the world’s largest independent bottler with leadership positions in Europe and North America. Cott’s bottling activities consist of 24 production sites in North America and 5 in the UK. It is a business with 2016 revenues of $ 1.7 billion[1], adjusted EBITDA of $ 136.5 million[2] and strong cash flow. The acquisition anticipates the expected retail brands market growth in the US driven by the expansion of hard discounters, expanding footprint of online retailers and macro factors enabling retail brands growth. The acquisition has significant synergy potential of around € 47 million. It will be more than 5 % earnings accretive already in the first full year of consolidation and considerably higher in the second and third year. The acquisition will be fully financed with debt. The company intends to issue € 200 million in new shares at the earliest opportunity. The transaction is expected to close in the second half of 2017.
Q2 2017 Highlights[3]
- Volume increased 20.5 % to 2,052 million liters. Organic volume growth was 2.8 %.
- Contract manufacturing volume increased to 37.7 % of total volume mainly driven by acquisitions.
- Gross profit margin per liter amounted to 13.4 euro cents in line with the expected impact of last year’s acquisition in the US (Q2 2016: 14.0 euro cents). Like-for-like gross margin per liter was 13.9 euro cents.
- Adjusted EBITDA amounted to € 66 million (Q2 2016: € 68 million).
- Adjusted EPS was € 0.34 (Q2 2016: €0.37).
CEO Refresco, Hans Roelofs:
“In July we announced the acquisition of Cott’s bottling activities transforming Refresco into the world’s largest independent bottler. In combining the two companies we create nationwide coverage in the US – the largest single soft drinks market globally – while adding significant capacity and extending our broad product portfolio in the UK. This acquisition lies at the heart of our buy & build strategy and is a perfect fit with Refresco’s current activities. It taps into the expected private label growth in the US enabling us to support further growth of our core customers and it creates a US national platform for contract manufacturing. We look forward to presenting this exciting new development to shareholders for their approval at the Extraordinary General Meeting on September 5, 2017.
“Looking back at the second quarter results we are pleased to report strong volume growth in Europe and the US driven by acquisitions and organic growth. On a like-for-like basis volume in retail brands remained stable and contract manufacturing for A-brands was up double digit. Gross profit margin per liter was in line with our expectations. Volume fluctuations in the quarter and significant startup costs of recently installed production lines affected our results.”
Download: Refresco reports Q2 2017 results
[1] Based on US GAAP.
[2] Based on US GAAP.
[3] Change percentages and totals calculated before rounding.
