Anora: Strong full-year 2021, Q4 impacted by lower sales in monopolies and increasing costs
Anora Group Plc Stock Exchange Release 10 March 2022 at 8:30 am EET
This release is a summary of Anora Group Plc's Financial Statements Bulletin 2021. The complete report is attached to this release and is also available on the company website at: www.anora.com/investors
Pro forma financial information
Q4 2021: net sales EUR 205.6 (196.5) million and comparable EBITDA 30.6 (36.3) million
January-December 2021: net sales EUR 665.0 (627.7) million and comparable EBITDA 101.0 (98.3) million
Q4 2021 compared to Q4 2020
Reported net sales increased by 93.1% to EUR 205.6 (106.5) million; growth in constant currencies 88.7%
The Finland & Exports segment's net sales were EUR 37.7 (34.4) million
The Scandinavia segment's net sales were EUR 47.2 (46.4) million; decrease in constant currencies 0.8%
Altia Industrial's net sales were EUR 29.9 (25.7) million
Arcus segment's net sales were EUR 90.7 (-) million
Comparable EBITDA was EUR 31.4 (19.0) million, 15.3% (17.9%) of net sales
Reported EBITDA was EUR 31.3 (13.5) million, 15.2% (12.7%) of net sales
Net cash flow from operating activities was EUR 57.6 (50.2) million
Net debt / comparable EBITDA was 1.8 (-0.1)
January-December 2021 compared to January-December 2020
Items affecting comparability were EUR -8.8 (-12.1) million, mainly relating to the merger of Altia and Arcus
Dividend proposal
Anora's Board of Directors proposes to the Annual General Meeting that a dividend of EUR 0.45 per share be paid for the financial year 2021. In its proposal the Board has considered former Altia's dividend policy to pay 60% or more of the result for the period as a dividend to the shareholders. Anora's financial targets including a dividend policy will be set in connection with the on-going strategy process.
Anora's comparable EBITDA in 2022 is expected to be between EUR 75-85 million. This corresponds to the pre-pandemic level and takes into account the annual impact of EUR 4.6 million of the divestment of Anora brands due to the merger. More information on page 25.
Net sales, EUR million 205.6 106.5 478.2 342.4
Comparable EBITDA, EUR million 31.4 19.0 71.7 52.4
% of net sales 15.3 17.9 15.0 15.3
EBITDA, EUR million 31.3 13.5 62.9 40.3
Comparable operating result, EUR million 23.6 14.8 51.2 35.0
Operating result, EUR million 23.5 9.3 42.4 22.9
Result for the period, EUR million 17.2 7.3 31.2 17.8
Earnings per share, EUR 0.25 0.20 0.67 0.49
Net cash flow from operating activities, EUR million 57.6 50.2 50.8 56.1
Net debt / comparable EBITDA 1.8* -0.1 1.8* -0.1
Personnel end of period 1 055 637 1 055 637
*If calculated using pro forma figures, net debt / comparable EBITDA would have been 1.2 for 2021.
CEO Pekka Tennilä:
2021 was a historical year for us with the start of Anora's journey as the leading wine and spirits brand house in the Nordics, and the global industry forerunner in sustainability. After the closing of the merger in September, we have successfully re-structured our organisation and continued to serve our partners and customers well. The work to capture the net synergies of EUR 8-10 million has continued as planned with several initiatives to drive efficiencies and find new growth opportunities across our markets.
During 2021, the COVID-19 restrictions in on-trade and travelling continued to impact our market environment in a significant way. Supported by extraordinary high sales volumes in monopoly stores, we are reporting strong results for 2021: net sales on a pro forma basis grew by 6% to EUR 665 million and comparable EBITDA on a pro forma basis grew by 3% to EUR 101 million. I am extremely proud and thankful for the great achievements that our employees have reached, and for the true dedication and resilience they have shown during this exceptional year.
In Q4, we saw the wine and spirits market returning to normal which was reflected also as lower monopoly volumes compared to the high volumes in Q4 last year. Our net sales on a pro forma basis grew, supported by the gradual opening of the restricted sales channels and the higher contract manufacturing volumes. In this quarter, we were also faced with a historically sharp increase in input costs, with specifically the cost of barley reaching a record-high level. Comparable EBITDA, on a pro forma basis, declined mainly due to higher input costs and more investments in marketing of our brands.
In sustainability, one of the topics that we have high on our priority list is to secure a safe workplace for our employees, and we aim for zero accidents at work. We continuously monitor and develop our processes and routines to prevent accidents, and we actively promote a safety culture at our plants. This work has given great results in 2021: at the Gjelleråsen plant no injuries were reported and the Koskenkorva Distillery was granted The Year Award in Starch Europe's Safety Program.
For the year 2022 we expect Anora's comparable EBITDA to be between EUR 75-85 million which corresponds to the pre-pandemic level and takes into account the annual impact of EUR 4.6 million of the divestment of Anora brands due to the merger. In 2022, we expect the volumes in the monopolies to be significantly lower than in 2020 and 2021 as the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions result in higher on-trade, border trade and duty-free sales, and input costs to remain at a high level.
The newly formed Anora is the Nordic market leader in wine and spirits with #1 position across many categories and segments. We believe that we are uniquely positioned to serve our customers and consumer in the Nordics, and beyond, with our strong brands portfolio, strong route-to-market skills and pioneering position in sustainability. We have already started to work on Anora's strategy, which will define our growth and equity story going forward, and will be finalized during the summer. I am excited about the future and look forward to continuing working closely with our partners, customers, suppliers and other stakeholders in the year ahead.
Anora will publish financial reports in 2022 as follows:
19 May: Interim Report for January-March 2022
1 September: Half-Year Report for January-June 2022
24 November: Interim Report for January-September 2022
The Annual Report 2021 including the financial statements, Board of Directors' report, the Corporate Governance statement and the remuneration report will be published in English and Finnish on Anora's website in week 16. The Annual Report includes also the Sustainability Report.
Anora Group Plc's Annual General Meeting 2022 is planned to be held on 11 May 2022. The notice to and instructions for the AGM will be published on Anora's website.
Pekka Tennilä, CEO
Sigmund Toth, CFO
Analysts and investors: Tua Stenius-Örnhjelm, Investor Relations, tel. +358 40 748 8864
Results presentation:
CEO Pekka Tennilä and CFO Sigmund Toth will present the report today at 11:00 am EET. The presentation will be held as a Microsoft Teams Meeting and we recommend that participants join the event using the online meeting option: <strong>Join meeting here</strong>
It is also possible to dial-in to the meeting about 5 minutes earlier at the following numbers:
FI: +358 9 2310 6678
NO: +47 21 40 41 04
SE: +46 8 502 428 54
US: +1 917-781-4622
Conference ID: 562 150 307#
Questions to the management can be sent through the Teams chat.
Presentation material
The presentation material will be shared in the online meeting and it can be downloaded on the same day at: www.anora.com/investors
On-demand recording
A recording of the event will be available later on Anora's website.
www.anora.com
ANORA-Q4-2021-EN-FINAL