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Aspo - Higher EBIT remains missing

Aspo’s EUR 5.4m Q4 EBIT missed us and consensus by ca. EUR 1.0m. The miss was due to Telko. We believe Aspo has operational upside long-term, however we also view current valuation neutral given the uncertainty surrounding the improvement slope. We have made only minor estimate revisions. Our TP remains EUR 8.25, rating still HOLD.

ESL didn’t disappoint, yet macro uncertainty still weighs

ESL posted EUR 4.4m Q4 EBIT i.e. a 5% y/y increase and slightly above our EUR 4.3m estimate. In our view this was a decent performance considering Q4 cargo volumes declined y/y from 4.5m tonnes to 4.0m tonnes as steel industry shipments fell dramatically. Energy industry shipment volumes were also soft due to warm weather. Aspo sees Baltic Sea steel industry cargo volumes now stabilizing. Even though the LNG-powered vessels as well as AtoB@C are performing well, there’s uncertainty regarding ESL’s EBIT improvement slope this year. Nevertheless, even if steel industry shipments don’t rebound meaningfully in ’20 we would still expect ESL to achieve significantly higher EBIT. Telko’s EUR 0.9m Q4 EBIT didn’t meet our EUR 2.2m estimate and declined significantly y/y from EUR 3.4m. EBIT took a EUR 0.9m hit due to low volumes and raw materials prices, and FX. Telko also destocked low-margin low-turnover inventory, which also had a negative EUR 0.9m effect. Leipurin bakery business seems to be improving especially in Russia, however given the macro uncertainties around ESL’s and Telko’s profit development we don’t see this as a meaningful enough value driver currently.

Aspo guides improving EBIT for this year

We still view ESL able to post some EUR 5-6m in quarterly EBIT; should steel industry volume development turn positive in ’20 the dry bulk carrier should have no trouble achieving EUR 20m (compared to EUR 14.6m last year). Aspo says Telko’s Q1 will still be burdened by destocking measures. In our view Telko should still be able to achieve quarterly EBIT close to EUR 3m this year.

In our view valuation is neutral given uncertainty

There’s significant upside potential relative to Aspo’s long-term targets, however in our opinion the bridge there is not as of now stable enough to turn our view more positive. Our TP is still EUR 8.25, while our rating remains HOLD.

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