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Suominen - The pandemic tailwind is not clear

Suominen reports Q1 results on Thu, Apr 23. We have left our estimates unchanged. We expect Suominen to perform relatively well in the current environment, however we don’t see the pandemic producing absolute gains based on current info. Our TP is EUR 2.50 (2.25), rating SELL (HOLD).

Last year was weak for European sales

Suominen’s revenue declined by 5% last year to EUR 411m as the European business lost volumes and sales fell by 13% to EUR 150m. Americas was flat. Product split held steady as baby wipes were the largest group (40%) followed by personal care and home care wipes with about a fifth each. Suominen gives no short-term sales guidance but expects EBIT to improve this year. We estimate Q1 top line to have declined by 2% y/y to EUR 108m assuming volumes have improved a bit while nonwovens prices have declined slightly along with raw materials prices. We still expect Q1 gross margin at 8.5% i.e. marginally up from the 8.3% Q4 figure. We see SGA stable, and thus expect Q1 EBIT at EUR 2.9m (EUR 3.0m a year ago). Assuming stabilizing raw materials prices and gross margins for the rest of the year, we expect FY ’20 revenue up by 3% due to improving volumes. We thus see FY ’20 EBIT at EUR 12.0m vs EUR 8.1m last year.

In our view the pandemic might not inevitably help sales

Relatively speaking Suominen should perform well amid the pandemic, but in terms of absolute gains we don’t see the picture that clear. Suominen’s recent challenges were not due to lack of nonwovens demand, but rather caused by abundance of supply. Also, customer specific considerations matter as the ten largest accounts generate 65% of sales. We see a possibility that the pandemic and its aftermath will help accelerate volume growth, which is what the company needs in order to reach its long-term financial targets. Suominen is reportedly planning to enter face mask production in Finland in co-operation with Ahlstrom-Munksjö, however in our view it’s still early to estimate and value the possible impact on bottom line.

Valuation seems to have gone ahead of itself

In our view the current share price reflects rather hasty assumptions about the pandemic’s impact on the nonwovens market. We see caution warranted as a boost to total volumes is not inevitable. Our TP is now EUR 2.50 (2.25), rating SELL (HOLD).

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