Metsä Board Corporation Interim Report 1 January–30 June 2015, 6 August 2015 at 12:00 noon
Result for the first half of 2015
• Sales were EUR 1,047.7 million (Q1–Q2/2014: 995.2).
• Operating result excluding non-recurring items was EUR 90.2 million (64.4). Operating result including non-recurring items was EUR 110.3 million (75.7).
• Result before taxes excluding non-recurring items was EUR 72.3 million (40.8). Result before taxes including non-recurring items was EUR 90.2 million (49.9).
• Earnings per share excluding non-recurring items were EUR 0.19 (0.10), and earnings per share including non-recurring items were EUR 0.24 (0.12).
Result for the second quarter of 2015
• Sales were EUR 522.0 million (Q1/2015: 525.7).
• Operating result excluding non-recurring items was EUR 47.0 million (43.2). Operating result including non-recurring items was EUR 67.2 million (43.1).
• The result before taxes excluding non-recurring items was EUR 40.0 million (32.3). Result before taxes including non-recurring items was EUR 58.0 million (32.2).
• Earnings per share excluding non-recurring items were EUR 0.10 (0.09), and earnings per share including non-recurring items were EUR 0.15 (0.09).
Events during the second quarter of 2015
• Paperboard deliveries continued to grow, and the price levels were stable.
• The conversion of paper machine 8 to board machine 2 at the Husum mill was completed as planned.
• Metsä Board divested the Gohrsmühle mill, including all related liabilities, to the German mutares AG’s wholly owned holding company and its partner company.
• Moody’s Investors Service raised Metsä Board Corporation’s credit rating by two notches from B1 to Ba2. The outlook of the rating is stable.
Near-term outlook
• Metsä Board’s operating result excluding non-recurring items is in the third quarter of 2015 expected to increase slightly compared to the second quarter of 2015.
“The second quarter of 2015 met our expectations. The transformation of Husum into a paperboard mill is progressing as planned. The training of the mill personnel has begun, which will ensure the successful production of high-quality folding boxboard once the new machine starts up.
A large share of the Husum mill’s production will be directed to the North American market. Production optimisation enables us to grow the sales of our other mills’ products as well. Our target is to continue to grow globally.
The divestment of the Gohrsmühle mill improves our annual operating result excluding non-recurring items by approximately EUR 20 million compared to the previous year. Slightly over half of this will materialise this year.
We are increasing our emphasis on product development. Our customers increasingly highlight the importance of sustainability. We will be the first company in the world to start testing foam forming on a production scale. Foam forming technology makes it possible to further lower the weight of products and reduce the use of raw materials, energy and water.
The successful implementation of the investment programme at Husum, the full-scale sale of the new volumes globally and, at the same time, finalising the exit from the paper business are our most important targets from now on.”
Mika Joukio, CEO
KEY FIGURES
| 2015 | 2015 | 2014 | 2014 | 2015 | 2014 | 2014 | |
| Q2 | Q1 | Q2 | Q1 | Q1–Q2 | Q1–Q2 | Q1–Q4 | |
| Sales, EUR million | 522.0 | 525.7 | 494.0 | 501.2 | 1,047.7 | 995.2 | 2,008.4 |
| EBITDA, EUR million | 93.3 | 69.3 | 55.9 | 69.2 | 162.6 | 125.1 | 242.2 |
| excl. non-recurring items, EUR million | 73.1 | 69.7 | 52.0 | 61.8 | 142.8 | 113.8 | 236.2 |
| EBITDA, % | 17.9 | 13.2 | 11.3 | 13.8 | 15.5 | 12.6 | 12.1 |
| excl. non-recurring items, % | 14.0 | 13.3 | 10.5 | 12.3 | 13.6 | 11.4 | 11.8 |
| Operating result, EUR million | 67.2 | 43.1 | 32.2 | 43.5 | 110.3 | 75.7 | 116.5 |
| excl. non-recurring items, EUR million | 47.0 | 43.2 | 28.3 | 36.1 | 90.2 | 64.4 | 136.5 |
| EBIT, % | 12.9 | 8.2 | 6.5 | 8.7 | 10.5 | 7.6 | 5.8 |
| excl. non-recurring items, % | 9.0 | 8.2 | 5.7 | 7.2 | 8.6 | 6.5 | 6.8 |
| Result before taxes, EUR million | 58.0 | 32.2 | 23.9 | 26.0 | 90.2 | 49.9 | 77.6 |
| excl. non-recurring items, EUR million | 40.0 | 32.3 | 20.0 | 20.8 | 72.3 | 40.8 | 99.7 |
| Result for the period, EUR million | 54.7 | 29.3 | 16.8 | 24.8 | 84.0 | 41.6 | 68.5 |
| excl. non-recurring items, EUR million | 36.9 | 29.4 | 12.9 | 20.6 | 66.3 | 33.5 | 88.1 |
| Result per share, EUR | 0.15 | 0.09 | 0.05 | 0.07 | 0.24 | 0.12 | 0.20 |
| excl. non-recurring items, EUR | 0.10 | 0.09 | 0.04 | 0.06 | 0.19 | 0.10 | 0.26 |
| Return on equity, % | 22.5 | 13.2 | 8.0 | 11.6 | 18.2 | 9.9 | 8.1 |
| excl. non-recurring items, % | 15.2 | 13.2 | 6.1 | 9.6 | 14.3 | 8.0 | 10.4 |
| Return on capital employed, % | 16.5 | 11.0 | 8.5 | 11.2 | 13.9 | 10.0 | 7.7 |
| excl. non-recurring items, % | 12.1 | 11.0 | 7.5 | 9.9 | 11.6 | 8.8 | 9.1 |
| Equity ratio at end of period, % | 45.9 | 40.8 | 39.8 | 41.0 | 45.9 | 39.8 | 39.2 |
| Gearing ratio at end of period, % | 67 | 73 | 84 | 84 | 67 | 84 | 81 |
| Net gearing ratio at end of period, % | 39 | 34 | 65 | 69 | 39 | 65 | 51 |
| Shareholders' equity per share at end of period, EUR | 2.83 | 2.63 | 2.46 | 2.55 | 2.83 | 2.46 | 2.49 |
| Interest-bearing net liabilities, EUR million | 389.0 | 318.9 | 540.1 | 592.6 | 389.0 | 540.1 | 426.7 |
| Gross investments, EUR million | 48.3 | 23.9 | 14.0 | 4.7 | 72.2 | 18.7 | 44.2 |
| Deliveries, 1,000 tonnes | |||||||
| Paperboard | 366 | 345 | 322 | 318 | 711 | 640 | 1 310 |
| Non-core operations | 138 | 156 | 153 | 167 | 294 | 320 | 636 |
| Personnel at the end of period | 2,850 | 3,158 | 3,370 | 3,145 | 2,850 | 3,370 | 3,111 |
Result per share and shareholders' equity per share in 2014 have been adjusted for right issue. The right issue factor was 1.030627
EBITDA = Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and impairment charges
Business environment and near-term outlook
The delivery volumes of paperboard are estimated to increase slightly in the third quarter of 2015 compared to the previous quarter. No material changes in the price of paperboard are in sight at the moment.
The global demand for softwood pulp is expected to continue to grow moderately, and supply and demand are expected to be in balance in the near future as well.
The market situation in the third quarter of the paper operations to be reported in the Non-core operations segment is expected to be, on average, at the previous quarter’s level.
No material changes are expected in production costs in the third quarter of 2015.
The annual maintenance shutdown of the Kemi integrate will have a slight negative result impact in the third quarter.
The more extensive production shutdown related to the investment programme at Husum is scheduled for the last quarter of the year.
Metsä Board’s operating result excluding non-recurring items is in the third quarter of 2015 expected to increase slightly compared to the second 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–June 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
More information will be available from 1 p.m. on 6 August 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 0 145 256 0304
USA: +1 631 621 5256
The conference ID is 75498895
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 NASDAQOMX Helsinki. In 2014, the company’s sales totalled approximately EUR 2.0 billion. The company has approximately 2,800 employees.
