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Suominen - Volumes haven’t stabilized yet

Suominen’s Q4 results fell short of our expectations as volume pressure continued. We have cut our estimates, our updated TP is EUR 2.25 (2.50), rating still HOLD.

Suominen’s EUR 94.5m Q4 revenue missed our estimate

Suominen’s Q4 revenue declined by 14% y/y and 12% short of our EUR 107.1m estimate. The decline was attributable to volume losses but also to lower prices (due to lower raw materials prices). Volumes were lost in the Americas, with revenue down by 6% to EUR 62m, but the drop was sharp in Europe as Q4 sales slid by 26% y/y to EUR 32m. Suominen’s customer base is concentrated as the ten largest accounts make 65% of sales. Suominen lost volumes last year as the nonwovens price hikes became effective. Suominen says certain customer accounts might still be negatively affected. Suominen reported an 8.3% gross margin in Q4, in line with our estimates. The gross profit was thus EUR 7.8m while we expected EUR 9.0m. SGA, R&D and other items were as expected, and therefore the EUR 1.1m gap in EBIT relative to our estimate (EUR 1.4m vs EUR 2.5m) was due to the low sales figure and resulting weak absolute gross profit.

Short-term growth uncertain, but EBIT should still improve

Although the Q4 sales shortfall was a disappointment relative to our expectations, the softness didn’t fundamentally alter our view towards Suominen’s wider picture as a high level of uncertainty continues to fog the outlook. Suominen doesn’t guide sales outlook for FY ’20 but expects EBIT to further improve from the FY ’19 EUR 8.1m figure. We have cut our estimates for this year. We previously estimated Suominen to achieve 5% top line growth in ’20. We now expect 3% growth. Our expectation for FY ’20 EBIT is now EUR 12.0m (previously EUR 16.1m). Nonwovens demand is expected to grow at a CAGR of more than 4% in the markets where Suominen is present. Suominen targets to grow in excess of this rate in the long-term, however the oversupply problem seems to persist at least in the short-term.

Long-term targets are hard to price in given uncertainty

In our view Suominen’s valuation is neutral considering profitability has just bottomed out. However, it’s hard to say when profitability reaches adequate levels; we retain our cautious stance. Our TP is now EUR 2.25 (2.50), rating HOLD.

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