Metsä Board Corporation Interim Report 1 January – 31 March 2015, 7 May 2015 at 12:00 noon
Result for the first quarter of 2015
• Sales were EUR 525.7 million (Q1/2014: 501.2).
• Operating result excluding non-recurring items was EUR 43.2 million (36.1). Operating result including non-recurring items was EUR 43.1 million (43.5).
• Result before taxes excluding non-recurring items was EUR 32.3 million (20.8). Result before taxes including non-recurring items was EUR 32.2 million (26.0).
• Earnings per share excluding non-recurring items were EUR 0.09 (0.06), and earnings per share including non-recurring items were EUR 0.09 (0.07).
Events during the first quarter of 2015
• The demand for paperboard continued to be at a good level, and the delivery volumes increased from the previous quarter. The prices were stable.
• Metsä Board's Board of Directors made a decision on a share issue of approximately EUR 100 million on 26 February. The subscription period of the share issue began on 5 March and ended on 23 March. A total of 38,227,779 B-series shares were subscribed for in the share issue, corresponding to 139.8 per cent of the 27,347,134 B-series shares offered. The funds received from the share issue will be used to finance the final steps of transformation to a paperboard company.
• Metsä Board updated its public long-term financial targets. The updated targets are return on capital employed (ROCE) minimum 12 per cent from 2017 onwards and net gearing maximum 70 per cent.
• Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services raised Metsä Board's credit rating by two notches, from B+ to BB. The outlook of the rating is stable.
• The renewed management and reporting structure became effective at the beginning of 2015.
Events after the reporting period
• Metsä Board announced on 29 April that it has agreed to divest 100 per cent of its shares in Metsä Board Zanders GmbH including all related liabilities to mutares AG’s fully owned holding company and its partner company. Closing of the transaction is expected to take place by the end of May 2015.
“The year 2015 started well, and our result improved from the fourth quarter of last year, as expected. The situation in the paperboard market continues to be stable, and the investment programme at Husum is progressing in line with our objectives.
The share issue completed in March was a success. It supports us in finalising our transformation. I would like to extend my thanks to our shareholders for the trust you have shown in our company.
Our paper production will be discontinued almost completely by the end of 2015, and we will launch the new folding boxboard production line at Husum at the beginning of next year. This enables us to grow our paperboard business considerably, in particular in North America.
Our most important objectives in 2015 are continued profitable growth, successful implementation of the investment programme at Husum, as well as the elimination of losses at the Gohrsmühle mill, which is expected to happen through a divestment closed taking effect by the end of May. In the future, Metsä Board will be an even stronger company.”
Mika Joukio, CEO
Key figures
| 2015 | 2014 | 2014 | 2014 | 2014 | 2014 | |
| Q1 | Q4 | Q3 | Q2 | Q1 | Q1-Q4 | |
| Sales, EUR million | 525.7 | 499.4 | 513.8 | 494.0 | 501.2 | 2,008.4 |
| EBITDA, EUR million | 69.3 | 56.4 | 60.7 | 55.9 | 69.2 | 242.2 |
| excl. non-recurring items, EUR million | 69.7 | 60.6 | 61.8 | 52.0 | 61.8 | 236.2 |
| EBITDA, % | 13.2 | 11.3 | 11.8 | 11.3 | 13.8 | 12.1 |
| excl. non-recurring items, % | 13.3 | 12.1 | 12.0 | 10.5 | 12.3 | 11.8 |
| Operating result, EUR million | 43.1 | 6.7 | 34.1 | 32.2 | 43.5 | 116.5 |
| excl. non-recurring items, EUR million | 43.2 | 36.9 | 35.2 | 28.3 | 36.1 | 136.5 |
| EBIT, % | 8.2 | 1.3 | 6.6 | 6.5 | 8.7 | 5.8 |
| excl. non-recurring items, % | 8.2 | 7.4 | 6.9 | 5.7 | 7.2 | 6.8 |
| Result before taxes, EUR million | 32.2 | 1.6 | 26.1 | 23.9 | 26.0 | 77.6 |
| excl. non-recurring items, EUR million | 32.3 | 31.6 | 27.3 | 20.0 | 20.8 | 99.7 |
| Result for the period, EUR million | 29.3 | 6.1 | 20.8 | 16.8 | 24.8 | 68.5 |
| excl. non-recurring items, EUR million | 29.4 | 32.7 | 21.9 | 12.9 | 20.6 | 88.1 |
| Result per share, EUR | 0.09 | 0.02 | 0.06 | 0.05 | 0.07 | 0.20 |
| excl. non-recurring items, EUR | 0.09 | 0.10 | 0.06 | 0.04 | 0.06 | 0.26 |
| Return on equity, % | 13.2 | 2.9 | 9.8 | 8.0 | 11.6 | 8.1 |
| excl. non-recurring items, % | 13.2 | 15.4 | 10.4 | 6.1 | 9.6 | 10.4 |
| Return on capital employed, % | 11.0 | 1.8 | 9.0 | 8.5 | 11.2 | 7.7 |
| excl. non-recurring items, % | 11.0 | 9.6 | 9.2 | 7.5 | 9.9 | 9.1 |
| Equity ratio at end of period, % | 40.8 | 39.2 | 39.8 | 39.8 | 41.0 | 39.2 |
| Gearing ratio at end of period, % | 73 | 81 | 82 | 84 | 84 | 81 |
| Net gearing ratio at end of period, % | 34 | 51 | 57 | 65 | 69 | 51 |
| Shareholders' equity per share at end of period, EUR | 2.63 | 2.49 | 2.53 | 2.46 | 2.55 | 2.49 |
| Interest-bearing net liabilities, EUR million | 318.9 | 426.7 | 491.1 | 540.1 | 592.6 | 426.7 |
| Gross investments, EUR million | 23.9 | 18.2 | 7.3 | 14.0 | 4.7 | 44.2 |
| Deliveries, 1 000 tonnes | ||||||
| Paperboard | 345 | 326 | 344 | 322 | 318 | 1,310 |
| Non core operations | 156 | 158 | 158 | 153 | 167 | 636 |
| Personnel at the end of period | 3,158 | 3,111 | 3,164 | 3,370 | 3,145 | 3,111 |
2014's result per share and shareholders' equity per share have been adjusted for right issue. The right issue factorwas 1.030627.
EBITDA = Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and impairment charges
Business environment and near-term outlook
The paperboard delivery volume is estimated to increase slightly in the second quarter of 2015 compared to the previous quarter. No material changes in the price of folding boxboard are currently in sight. Metsä Board announced an increase of EUR 40 per tonne in the price of white fresh forest fibre linerboard in Europe as of 11 May 2015.
The global demand for softwood pulp is expected to continue to grow moderately, and softwood pulp supply and demand are expected to be in balance in the near future as well.
The market situation in the second quarter of the operations reported in the Non-core operations segment is expected to be, on average, at the previous quarter's level.
The maintenance and investment shutdown at the Husum mill is forecasted to have a slight negative impact on the result in the second quarter. A more extensive shutdown related to the investment programme at Husum is scheduled for the last quarter of the year.
No material changes are expected in production costs in the second quarter of 2015.
Foreign exchange rates developed favourably for Metsä Board in the second half of 2014 and at the beginning of 2015. The duration of the company’s net cash flow hedges is somewhat less than six months. Therefore, the positive impact of exchange rate fluctuations on the result will be visible as of the first half of 2015.
Metsä Board’s operating result excluding non-recurring items is in the second quarter of 2015 expected to be roughly at the same level as in the first quarter of 2015.
Disclosure procedure
Metsä Board Corporation follows the disclosure procedure enabled by Standard 5.2b published by the Finnish Financial Supervision Authority and hereby publishes its Interim Report for January–March 2015 enclosed to this stock exchange release. Metsä Board's complete Financial Statements is attached to this release in pdf-format and is also available on the company's web site at www.metsaboard.com.
METSÄ BOARD CORPORATION
More information:
Markus Holm, CFO, tel. +358 (0)10 465 4913
Juha Laine, Vice President, Investor Relations and Communications, tel. +358 (0)10 465 4335
More information will be available from 1 p.m. on 7 May 2015. A conference call for investors and analysts will be held in English and begin at 3 p.m. (EET). Conference call participants are requested to dial in and register a few minutes earlier on the following numbers:
Europe: +44 (0)20 7162 0025
USA: +1 334 323 6201
The conference ID is 952624.
Metsä Board is Europe’s leading producer of folding boxboard and white fresh forest fibre linerboard and a market pulp supplier. It offers premium solutions for consumer and retail packaging and graphics. The company’s sales network serves brand owners, carton printers, corrugated packaging manufacturers and merchants. Metsä Board is part of Metsä Group, and its shares are listed on the NASDAQ OMX Helsinki. In 2014, the company’s sales totalled approximately EUR 2.0 billion. The company has approximately 3,100 employees.
