Aspo - ESL’s EBIT set for strong gain in H2

Q2 weaker than expected as Telko was unable to improve

Aspo’s EUR 151m Q2 revenue met our expectations, yet the EUR 4.1m EBIT missed our EUR 5.2m estimate. The miss was largely attributable to Telko’s weak 2.9% operating margin (we expected 4.5%), which declined both q/q and y/y. Telko’s EUR 80.6m Q2 revenue was in line with our estimate, and improved q/q and y/y, however declining plastic raw materials and chemicals prices continued to hurt profitability as Telko’s inventories were high (although have since normalized). The strengthening Russian and Ukrainian currencies had a further negative impact. Leipurin also fell short of our expectations and last year due to the machinery business’ weakness. Meanwhile ESL posted EUR 2.6m in EBIT (we cut our estimate to EUR 1.8m after Aspo warned Q2 will be weak due to a challenging market for the Supramax vessels).

ESL’s EBIT is set to almost double in H2 compared to H1

ESL’s LNG vessels are expected to reach their full potential in H2’19 as the cranes are now functioning normally. AtoB@C is also contributing. The market for Supramaxes has improved with the Baltic Dry Index rebounding sharply from its early 2019 lows. Steel sector shipments have also normalized after Q2, a period hampered by process challenges in Baltic steel mills as well as heavy traffic at Baltic Sea ports. We thus leave our H2’19 estimates for ESL intact (expect EUR 11m in H2’19 EBIT vs EUR 8m in H2’18). We revise our Telko estimates down as the market outlook in both West and East remains cautious. We previously expected Telko to reach 4.5-5.0% EBIT margins in H2’19 but now expect ca. 3.5%. On a more positive note, Aspo says Telko has managed to improve its inventory turnover recently.

Aspo’s H1’19 was subdued, but EBIT should improve considerably in H2’19

ESL’s H1’19 was weak with EBIT amounting to EUR 5.8m vs EUR 6.9m previous year. The results were hampered by the two new LNG vessels’ crane problems (which have since been fixed) as well as challenging market for the two Supramax vessels. Moreover, Q2 was slow for steel industry shipments as Baltic Sea steel mills’ annual maintenance procedures took longer than expected. Baltic Sea ports also faced operational challenges, leading to extended waiting periods for vessels. Meanwhile Telko and Leipurin struggled to improve their profitability in H1’19 due to the former suffering from declining chemicals prices and the latter dragged by slow machinery business. Aspo’s H1’19 EBIT stood at EUR 9m (EUR 11m). We expect Aspo’s EBIT to improve to EUR 16m in H2’19.

The bulk of Aspo’s value continues to tilt towards ESL

Telko’s contribution to our SOTP valuation has dropped as we have lowered our estimates for the chemical distributor. We now expect Telko to manage EUR 10m (EUR 14m) in FY ’19 EBIT. Our TP is now EUR 9.00 (9.25) due to lower SOTP as we expect FY ’19 EBIT at EUR 25m (EUR 28m). Our rating is now BUY (HOLD).