Suominen - Miss due to low sales
Suominen’s top line missed our estimate as Q4 sales declined by 14% y/y due to lower volumes as well as prices. Suominen expects operating profit to improve this year compared to FY ’19 (EUR 8.1m).
- Q4 revenue amounted to EUR 94.5m, compared to our EUR 107.1m estimate. The miss was due to higher-than-expected volume losses. Declining raw materials prices also had a negative effect.
- Gross profit was EUR 7.8m vs our EUR 9.0m expectation. The resulting 8.3% gross margin was close to our 8.4% estimate.
- Q4 EBIT was recorded at EUR 1.4m, whereas we expected EUR 2.5m. SG&A and R&D were basically as expected, so the earnings miss was attributable to low gross profit, which was due to weak top line.
- The BoD’s dividend proposal for FY ’19 is EUR 0.05 per share; our expectation was EUR 0.04 per share.
- Suominen guides FY ’20 EBIT will improve compared to ’19 (EUR 8.1m). Suominen will no longer provide sales guidance on annual level, which in our view is understandable given the recent struggles with volumes. Suominen targets long-term sales growth above that of the relevant market.