Stora Enso Oyj Financial Statement Release 2022

STORA ENSO OYJ FINANCIAL STATEMENT RELEASE 31 January 2023 at 8.30 EET

Delivering the best full year financial performance in 22years 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 1billion 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

EUR million Q4/22 Q4/21 Change Q3/22 Change 2022 2021 Change
% % %
Q4/22 Q4/22 2022
-Q4/21 -Q3/22 -2021
Sales 2,864 2,719 5.3% 2,963 -3.3% 11,680 10,164 14.9%
Operational 515 602 -14.4% 689 -25.2% 2,529 2,184 15.8%
EBITDA
Operational 355 426 -16.7% 527 -32.6% 1,891 1,528 23.7%
EBIT
Operational 12.4% 15.7% 17.8% 16.2% 15.0%
EBIT margin
Operating 705 839 -16.0% 511 38.1% 2,009 1,568 28.1%
profit
(IFRS)
Profit 666 793 -16.1% 448 48.7% 1,858 1,419 30.9%
before tax
(IFRS)
Net profit 584 616 -5.3% 367 59.1% 1,536 1,268 21.2%
for the
period
(IFRS)
Net interest 1,853 2,309 -19.7% 2,125 -12.8% 1,853   2,309 -19.7%
-bearing
liabilities
Operational 13.2% 20.4% 22.2% 20.9% 17.8%
ROCE excl.
Forest
division, %
Earnings per 0.32 0.32  0.5% 0.47 -31.6% 1.55 1.19 30.9%
share (EPS)
excl. FV,
EUR
EPS (basic), 0.74  0.78 -4.7% 0.47 57.5% 1.97 1.61 22.4%
EUR
Net 0.7 1.1 0.8 0.7 1.1
debt/last 12
months'
operational
EBITDA ratio
Average 21,004 22,369 -6.1% 21,804 -3.7% 21,790 23,071 -5.6%
number of
employees

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 li...