Anora Q1 22: Solid net sales development in turbulent times

Anora Group Plc   Stock Exchange Release  19 May 2022 at 8:30 am EET

Anora Q1 22: Solid net sales development in turbulent times

This release is a summary of Anora Group Plc's Interim Report January-March 2022. The complete report is attached to this release and is also available on the company website at: www.anora.com/en/investors 

Q1 22 in brief

• Net sales were EUR 133.4 million, 0.6% below the Q1 21 pro forma net sales of EUR 134.2 million  
• Comparable EBITDA was EUR 13.0 million or 9.8% of net sales (Q1 21 pro forma: EUR 16.7 million or 12.4%)
• Net cash flow from operating activities was EUR -38.6 (-0.3) million
• Earnings per share EUR 0.03 (Q1 21 pro forma: 0.04)
• Net debt/comparable EBITDA (rolling 12 months) was 2.2 (0.2)
• The normalising of the channel mix in the monopoly countries and the late timing of Easter in Q2 this year have impacted beverage sales

Guidance

Guidance remains unchanged: 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 2021 merger.

Key figures

* Q1 21 pro forma: net sales EUR 134.2 million; comparable EBITDA EUR 16.7 million or 12.4% of net sales; EPS EUR 0.04.
** Net debt / comparable EBITDA (rolling 12 months) calculated with pro forma comparable EBITDA was 1.7.

CEO Pekka Tennilä:

Anora’s first year as a combined company started off with underlying business developing largely in line with our expectations, despite the turbulence in our operating environment.

For wine and spirits, we saw markets returning to normal during the first quarter, as expected. Volumes in the monopolies have declined, as restrictions were lifted in all markets. Consumption has shifted back to on-trade, travel retail and border trade, and the recovery of these sales channels has been good or even strong.

The significant increase of input costs that we experienced already at the end of last year has further accelerated due to the war in Ukraine. To mitigate this cost inflation, we have increased prices in all sales channels and across both beverage and industrial products. Price increases were implemented already at the end of last year and continued in the first quarter, but in the current inflationary environment, we will need to continue with further price increases throughout the rest of the year.

For the first quarter, Anora’s net sales were EUR 133.4 million, which was slightly below last year’s pro forma net sales of EUR 134.2 million. This year beverage sales in Q1 were impacted by the later timing of Easter sales occuring in Q2 rather than in Q1 as last year. Further, wine sales declined in line with the declining market volumes, while spirits sales grew thanks to the recovery of travel retail. On the industrial side price increases due to the high raw material costs supported net sales development positively. Profitability weakened in Q1 due to the price increases only partly offsetting high input costs, and the lower wine sales. Comparable EBITDA reached EUR 13.0 million, or 9.8% of net sales.

Our post-merger integration work has progressed as planned and on schedule. During the first quarter, we have achieved an important milestone with the consolidation of logistics volumes. We have completed the projects to insource third party logistics operations in both Norway and Finland, while Sweden is expected to be completed during Q3 22. The run-rate of annualised net synergies at the end of Q1 22 was EUR 1.9 million, including the annual impact of EUR 4.6 million from the divestment of brands. 

We strongly condemn Russia’s war against Ukraine and respect all sanctions that have been set. When the war started, we reacted quickly and suspended exports to Russia, and in our Baltic operations we suspended purchases of raw materials from Russia and Belarus. Discontinuing exports to Russia does not have a material impact on Group net sales, but due to the war, global supply chain disruptions and constraints in the supply of grain have further increased.

We are working hard to secure the availability of raw materials. Currently, the biggest concerns are with the availability of  barley, bulk wine and glass bottles, in particular. In our supply chain operations, the teams are doing continuity planning and working very closely with our partners and suppliers.  

During the previous two years, when the pandemic impacted our operating environment significantly, we were able to adapt and respond quickly to changes. This proves the strength of our stable business and the resilience and strong commitment of our employees – we are in a strong position to manage through these challenging times. I want to take this opportunity to thank all Anora employees for their hard work during the start of the year.

Looking forward, the operating environment continues to be unstable, and while it is difficult to foresee all impacts on our business, we will continue to focus on growth and invest in our brands as well as to build the market together with our partners and customers. Meanwhile, work on Anora’s growth strategy progresses, and we look forward to discussing Anora’s future growth ambitions and sustainability roadmap in our first Capital Markets Day planned to be held in the autumn.

For the rest of the year, we reiterate our guidance: we expect Anora’s comparable EBITDA in 2022 to be between EUR 75-85 million.

Outlook for 2022

Market outlook

In 2022, the volumes in the monopolies are expected 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. Input costs are expected to remain at a high level.

Guidance

Guidance remains unchanged: 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.

ANORA GROUP PLC

Further information:

Pekka Tennilä, CEO

Sigmund Toth, CFO

Contacts:

Analysts and investors: Tua Stenius-Örnhjelm, Investor Relations, tel. +358 40 748 8864

Media: Petra Gräsbeck, Corporate Communications, tel. +358 40 767 0867

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: Join meeting here

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

UK: +44 20 7660 8309

US: +1 917-781-4622

Conference ID: 901 660 618#

Q&A

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 at: www.anora.com/en/investors 

On-demand recording

A recording of the event will be available on Anora’s website. 

Distribution:

Nasdaq Helsinki Ltd

Principal media

www.anora.com

Anora is a leading wine and spirits brand house in the Nordic region and aglobalindustry forerunner in sustainability. Our market-leading portfolio consists of our own iconic Nordic brands and a wide range of prominent international partner wines and spirits. We export to over 30 markets globally. Anora Group also includes Anora Industrial and logistics company Vectura. In 2021, Anora’s pro forma net sales were EUR 665 million and the company employs about 1,100 professionals. Anora’s shares are listed on Nasdaq Helsinki.