Suominen - Some improvement to be seen
Suominen’s Q3 profitability improved a bit from the recent lows but remained very modest and below our estimate as energy costs seem to have been a bigger challenge than we expected. Revenue topped estimates as sales volumes grew again in North America.
- Suominen Q3 revenue was up by 34% y/y to EUR 131.9m, compared to the EUR 123.0m/121.5m Evli/consensus estimates. Higher volumes and prices helped, while there was a currency tailwind of some EUR 11.1m. Americas amounted to EUR 80.3m vs our EUR 73.0m estimate, while Europe was EUR 51.7m vs our EUR 50.0m estimate.
- Gross profit landed at EUR 5.2m vs our EUR 9.2m estimate. Gross margin was hence 3.9% vs our 7.5% estimate, which implies energy costs in particular were higher than we expected.
- Q3 EBITDA amounted to EUR 5.1m, compared to our EUR 7.0m estimate, while EBIT was EUR 0.2m vs our EUR 2.0m estimate. Higher volumes had a positive effect on profitability, but sales prices could not entirely keep up with raw material and energy costs.
- Suominen guides comparable FY ‘22 EBITDA to decrease clearly from previous year (unchanged). Suominen sees further US demand recovery as well as easing in high raw materials prices during Q4.