Elopak reported strong financial performance for the second quarter of 2023
Highlights:
Revenues increased by 8 %, to EUR 278.0 million, driven by growth in EMEA and Americas
Organic growth was 6 %, or EUR 14.6 million, adjusted for currency translation effects and revenue from acquired businesses
Adjusted EBITDA was EUR 41.6 million, an improvement of EUR 15.1 million
Strong cash flow generation, leverage ratio reduced to 2.6x
Elopak will build a new plant in the USA to further leverage the high customer demand in the region
Commenting on Elopak’s performance, CEO Thomas Körmendi said:
“Building on our solid performance in past consecutive quarters, Q2 saw Elopak delivering strong profitable growth. Despite inflationary pressures, we remain on-track to achieving our strategic objectives. Our strong performance is allowing us to explore new market opportunities, including building a new state-of-the art factory in the US, and expanding our India operations.“
“Looking forward, we expect to deliver full year revenue growth well above our mid-term target. While we see softening of some raw material prices, the liquid paper market remains tight and higher board prices will have full effect in the second half of 2023. Additionally, the significant inflationary pressures on the broader cost base will impact our full year EBITDA margin. However, based on expected revenue growth, our second half EBITDA will be higher than last year. I am pleased to report this strong performance and remain eager and optimistic for continued sustainable packaging demand.”
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Firmenich, one of the world’s largest privately-owned fragrance and taste companies, released its annual Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Report, tracking progress toward the group’s groundbreaking sustainability targets. Fiscal Year (FY) 2022 was marked by strong sustainability performance across the Group’s three key pillars, climate, nature, and people, backed by growing, best-in-class independent evaluation and reinforced ESG governance.
FY2022 ESG Performance Highlights
Acting on Climate Change: Firmenich was one of only two companies to receive a fourth consecutive CDP Triple A rating for climate, water, and forests. Three manufacturing sites, in Norway, Singapore and South Africa, were carbon neutral in FY22, all operating without the use of offsets. Firmenich maintained decoupling of growth in manufacturing output from its CO2 emissions: in FY22, Scope 1 and 2 emissions were reduced by 36.1 % vs. 2017, and the new ingredients sites reduced Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 12.2 % vs. 2020. The Group maintained 100 % Renewable Electricity in its operations including in new acquisitions1. Firmenich aims to reach carbon neutrality in its direct operations by 2025, absolute carbon emissions reduction by 2030 in line with limiting temperature rise to 1.5˚C, as well as net-zero emissions by 2039 across its direct operations and value chain (Scopes 1, 2, and 3). Its net-zero targets were validated by the Science-Based Targets initiative (SBTi) in August 2022, making Firmenich the first company in its industry to receive SBTi approval.
Embracing Nature: Building on UEBT validation of the Group’s biodiversity strategy, work began on restoration at 15 % of Firmenich sites with biodiversity risk, in line with Science-Based Targets for Nature. Implementation of 100 % verified Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS) was increased. Firmenich continued to expand the proportion of ultimately or partially biodegradable ingredients in its fragrances to 96.6 % on average, having surpassed its 95 % target a year earlier. Firmenich reinforced green proteins in product development, enabling customers to accelerate the plant-based food revolution and contribute to climate change mitigation.
Caring about People: Building on gender pay equity and its work to strengthen inclusion, Firmenich achieved Living Wage certification by Fairwage Network in 2022 ahead of the Group’s 2025 target, a key step to ensure decent living standards for all employees and their families. The Group advanced its high global health and safety standards with an improved 0.26 Total Recordable Case (TRC) rate, and a third consecutive Gold Award from the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA). Firmenich continued to maintain zero human rights non-compliance and scaled up its effort to drive concerted business action by becoming United Nations Global Compact (UNGC) Impact Sponsor for Labor and Decent Work.
Overall, Firmenich achieved an upgraded rating from Sustainalytics with a score of 7.5, in the global top 50 of approximately 15,000 companies, that highlights the Group’s low ESG risk profile. A second consecutive Platinum rating by Ecovadis with an industry-leading score of 88 % placed Firmenich in the top 1 % of all companies assessed worldwide. The Group was also rated for the first time as one of the “2022 World’s Most Ethical Companies” by Ethisphere®, a global leader in defining and advancing the standards of ethical business practices.
Firmenich continued to work actively in alliances and partnerships, including the UN Global Compact, the Union for Ethical Biotrade (UEBT), One Planet Business for Biodiversity (OP2B), and the Science-Based Targets initiative (SBTi), to drive positive change at scale and foster effective action on climate, nature, and people in the business community.
1Firmenich moved to majority ownership of ArtSci in May 2022. This entity is not included in the scope of the report and will be integrated gradually in the Group’s ESG framework in FY2023.
In the first three quarters of the 2021/22 financial year (the nine months ended 30 November 2021), AGRANA, the fruit, starch and sugar company, generated an operating profit (EBIT) of EUR 76.0 million (Q1-Q3 prior year: EUR 84.3 million). Revenue was EUR 2,169.6 million (Q1-Q3 prior year: EUR 1,965.3 million).
Markus Mühleisen (Photo: AGRANA)
AGRANA Chief Executive Officer Markus Mühleisen says: “Since the beginning of the financial year we have been forecasting that, after a weaker first six months of 2021/22, earnings in the second half of the year would be better than one year earlier. This outlook was confirmed in the third quarter with quarterly EBIT of EUR 31.2 million (Q3 prior year: EUR 28.5 million). Following this positive trend in Q3, we also expect a very significant year-on-year improvement in EBIT in the fourth quarter. We therefore remain optimistic that, for the full financial year, we will exceed the prior year’s EBIT significantly, i.e., by at least 10 %. Getting there has, however, become much more difficult in the past few months amid a very strong rise in raw material and energy prices.”
Results in each business segment
Fruit segment
Fruit segment revenue in the first three quarters grew to EUR 939.1 million, a moderate increase of 5.3 %. The fruit preparations business saw revenue growth stemming mostly from higher sales prices. Revenue in the fruit juice concentrate activities declined slightly for volume reasons. Segment EBIT in the first nine months was EUR 36.2 million, off 12.3 % from one year earlier. The principal reason for the deterioration lay in weaker sales of fruit juice concentrates from the 2020 crop, which were marked by reduced delivery volumes in combination with lower contribution margins of apple juice concentrates in the first half of 2021/22.
Starch segment
Revenue in the Starch segment in the first three quarters of 2021/22 was EUR 737.8 million, or a significant 18.8 % more than a year ago. Higher volumes of core products and by-products were demanded than in the same period of the prior year. In the ethanol business, Platts quotations reached historic highs in the third quarter and averaged 24 % stronger in the first three quarters of 2021/22 than in the prior-year comparable period. Segment EBIT in the first nine months, at EUR 53.5 million, eased by 8.5 % from the year-earlier level. The main reason was a significant year-on-year increase in prices for raw materials (wheat and corn/maize) and energy, which could not yet be fully offset by adjusting product prices.
Sugar segment
The Sugar segment’s revenue in the first three quarters of 2021/22 grew to EUR 492.7 million, up 8.8 % from one year earlier. In addition to renewed high sales volumes with resellers, there was also a recovery in the industrial customer segment, where more sugar was sold than in the same period last year. While the EBIT result in the first three quarters of 2021/22 was better than in the year-ago period, it remained negative at the nine-month mark, at a deficit of EUR 13.7 million. This still reflected the fact that AGRANA’s own sugar production had been below average after the pest-related small 2020 harvest, with a resulting lower margin from the necessary compensatory reselling and refining of sugar.
Outlook
For the full 2021/22 financial year, AGRANA continues to expect significant growth in Group EBIT, in other words, an EBIT increase of at least 10 %. Group revenue is projected to show moderate growth. It should be noted, however, that due to the extreme volatility in commodity and energy prices and a once again more acute COVID-19 situation – the fourth wave in combination with the advent of the new Omicron variant – the forecast for the full year is subject to a very high degree of uncertainty.
In the 2021/22 financial year, the AGRANA Group is investing EUR 92 million, an amount significantly less than the budgeted depreciation of about EUR 120 million.
The Coca-Cola Company reported a solid start to 2019, with continued momentum that included gaining global value share. Reported net revenues grew 5 % in the first quarter, and organic revenues (non-GAAP) grew 6 %, with positive performance across all operating groups, in addition to a benefit from timing.
“We’re encouraged by our first quarter results as our disciplined growth strategies continue to deliver strong underlying performance,” said James Quincey, CEO of The Coca-Cola Company. “We remain confident in our full year guidance as we continue to make progress on our transformation as a consumer-centric total beverage company.”
Highlights
Quarterly Performance
Revenues: Net revenues grew 5% to $8.0 billion. Organic revenues (non-GAAP) grew 6 %. An estimated 2 points of revenue growth was attributable to timing, primarily related to bottler inventory build in order to manage uncertainty related to Brexit. Additionally, the quarter included one less day, which resulted in an approximate 1-point headwind to revenue growth.
Margin: Operating margin for the quarter, which included items impacting comparability, was 29.1 % versus 23.7 % in the prior year. Comparable operating margin (non-GAAP) was 30.5 % versus 30.7 % in the prior year. Strong underlying margin (non-GAAP) expansion was offset by an approximate 260 basis point negative impact from currency headwinds and net acquisitions.
Earnings per share: EPS from continuing operations grew 24 % to $0.38. Comparable EPS from continuing operations (non-GAAP) grew 2 % to $0.48, despite an 11-point currency headwind. EPS included an estimated 2 cent benefit from timing, primarily from the bottler inventory build related to Brexit.
Market share: The company continued to gain value share in total nonalcoholic ready-to-drink (NARTD) beverages.
Cash flow: Cash from operations was $699 million, up 14 %. Free cash flow (non-GAAP) was $335 million, down 1 % as strong underlying cash generation was offset by currency headwinds along with an increase in capital expenditures and cash tax payments.
Share repurchases: Purchases of stock for treasury were $397 million. Net share repurchases (non-GAAP) totaled $243 million.
Company Updates
Chairman transition and an evolving growth culture: Following the company’s annual meeting on April 24, James Quincey will become the 14th chairman of The Coca-Cola Company, contingent upon his reelection as a director. Quincey succeeds Muhtar Kent, who is retiring after a Coca-Cola system career that started in 1978. Kent served as chairman and CEO from 2009 until 2017 and then as chairman after Quincey became CEO. Quincey intends to build on the strong foundation Kent has established within the system, including a focus on fostering a growth-oriented culture.
Pursuing the company’s World Without Waste goals: Supporting its commitment to the World Without Waste initiative and improved transparency, the company issued its annual progress report, which cited continued progress globally on design, collect and partner efforts. For example, the company, along with its bottling partners, now has 100 % recycled PET bottles in multiple markets and will have them in more than a dozen markets by the end of 2019, driving successful circular solutions for packaging. Much of the system’s Latin America business is engaged in a multi-country project to significantly increase the use of refillable packaging, and markets globally are assessing ways to move toward more diverse business models for product delivery.
Broadening a consumer-centric portfolio: During the quarter, the company completed its acquisition of Costa Ltd., which gives Coca-Cola a significant entry point into hot beverages and a global platform in coffee. In the second quarter, the company will begin to leverage Costa’s scalable platform across formats and channels with the introduction of Costa ready-to-drink products. Coca-Cola also closed its acquisition of CHI Ltd., an innovative, fast-growing leader in expanding beverage categories in West Africa, including juices, value-added dairy and iced tea.
Driving profitable growth under the Leader, Challenger, Explorer framework: Strong innovation within Leader brands included double-digit growth for Coca-Cola Zero Sugar globally for the sixth consecutive quarter. Within the U.S., the company showed strong performance for Orange Vanilla Coke and Orange Vanilla Coke Zero Sugar, which helped drive 6 % retail value growth for brand Coca-Cola. The company also launched Simply smoothies in the U.S., while innocent, the company’s leading juice brand in Europe, expanded into plant-based beverages. As a Challenger brand, smartwater continues to innovate through the successful rollout of smartwater antioxidant and smartwater alkaline in the U.S. Within Explorer brands, the company continued to capitalize on brands with edge, including Aquarius GlucoCharge, which has shown early signs of success in the fast-growing enhanced hydration category in India.
Aligned and engaged system investing for growth: The company has established a sustained platform for performance that is focused on disciplined portfolio growth through an aligned and engaged system. Across the bottling system, the company is seeing the right strategic investments in supply chain, cold-drink equipment and sales force capabilities to drive accelerated results. These investments are creating a winning strategy in the marketplace, centered around improved execution that is committed to increasing the availability of core products, in addition to expanding the total portfolio.
