Corticeira Amorim’s profit falls to 64 million euros in 2020

  • ECO News
  • 24 February 2021

Corticeira Amorim's net profit decreased by 14.2% YoY. Sales fell by 5.2%. In line with previous years, the company wants to distribute a gross dividend of 18.5 cents per share.

In a year marked by the Covid-19 pandemic, Corticeira Amorim had a net profit of 64.3 million euros, down 14.2% YoY. The company wants to distribute a gross dividend of 18.5 cents per share, as in previous years.

In a statement sent to the Securities Market Commission (CMVM), António Amorim’s company states that “Corticeira Amorim’s net profit reached 64.3 million euros in 2020, a 14.2% reduction compared to the previous year [€74.947 million].”

However, the company considers there was a “resilience in sales”, by reaching 740.1 million euros. Still, this represents a fall of 5.2% compared to the previous year (781 million euros). According to the cork-maker company, the decline is justified by the Covid-19 pandemic and by an “unfavourable evolution of exchange rates, especially in the second half of the year.”

In quarterly terms, sales were uneven. In the first quarter there was a growth of 0.7%, but in the second quarter, affected by the country’s lockdown, they fell 10.5%. In the third and fourth quarter, they dropped by 5.5%. Overall, all business units were affected from the second quarter onwards, except the coatings unit.

“Consolidated EBITDA totalled 122.5 million euros,” down 1.8%, and the “EBITDA/Sales ratio rose to 16.6% benefiting from the consumption of raw materials purchased at more favourable prices, operational efficiency gains and higher sales prices, factors which offset the negative impact of lower activity levels and currency depreciation,” the company explained.

Despite these results, the Board of Directors proposed to the Shareholders Meeting, to be held on April 23, the payment of a gross dividend of 18.5 cents per share, the same as last year.