Q4 2021 in brief
•Net sales increased 23% to EUR 999 million (EUR 813 million)
•Adjusted EBIT was EUR 82 million (EUR 73 million); reported EBIT was EUR 84 million (EUR 48 million)
•Adjusted EPS was EUR 0.54 (EUR 0.48); reported EPS was EUR 0.56 (EUR 0.30)
•Comparable net sales growth was 12% at Group level and 19% in emerging markets
•The impact of currency movements was EUR 24 million on the Group’s net sales and EUR 2 million on EBIT
Q1-Q4 2021 in brief
•Net sales increased 8% to EUR 3,575 million (EUR 3,302 million)
•Adjusted EBIT was EUR 315 million (EUR 302 million); reported EBIT was EUR 296 million (EUR 265 million)
•Adjusted EPS was EUR 2.07 (EUR 1.95); reported EPS was EUR 1.91 (EUR 1.69)
•Comparable net sales growth was 7% at Group level and 13% in emerging markets
•The impact of currency movements was EUR -54 million on the Group’s net sales and EUR -6 million on EBIT
•Capital expenditure was EUR 259 million (EUR 223 million)
•Free cash flow was EUR -26 million (EUR 207 million)
•The Board of Directors proposes a dividend of EUR 0.94 (0.92) per share
President and CEO’s review
“The year 2021 was marked by a challenging business environment. This was linked to the continued COVID-19 pandemic, with appearance of new variants, and the significant disruption of the value chain. Throughout 2021 we continued to focus on the health, safety and wellbeing of our employees and to ensure business continuity under these exceptional circumstances.
During the year, we saw a gradual improvement in consumption, as vaccination deployment sped up and restrictions were eased across most geographies. This was visible in our foodservice packaging business globally, particularly in Europe and US. Solid growth continued in categories which were supported by in-home consumption, such as flexible packaging and retail tableware. The pandemic-driven supply chain disruptions throughout the year led to scarcity, particularly in raw materials, that resulted in an extraordinary inflation in input costs, and started to impact our operations. Freight, energy and labor inflation also increased significantly in the second half of 2021.
We delivered a solid performance in the face of this challenging operational environment. This reflects the resilience of our diversified portfolio and the ability of our company to manage adverse conditions. Huhtamaki delivered a solid fourth quarter in sales and profitability, with comparable net sales growth of 12%. For the full year 2021, our net sales amounted to EUR 3.6 billion with comparable net sales growth of 7%. In 2021, our profitability was constantly challenged by extraordinary input cost levels, however our adjusted EBIT improved 4%, reflecting our operational performance and ability to manage the impact of inflation. Negative cashflow was mainly impacted by increased working capital following market recovery and inflationary impact in raw materials as well as higher cash taxes.
more at: https://www.huhtamaki.com/en/media/media/stock-exchange-release/2022/huhtamaki-oyjs-results-january-1-december-31-2021-strong-net-sales-growth-and-solid-profitability-in-a-challenging-market/