Navigator’s profit up 57% despite cost increases
The Navigator Company reported positive results for 2021, with higher sales and improved margins. The company will pay an additional dividend of 14.06 cents per share.
Navigator ended 2021 with sales of around €1,600 million, up 15% from the previous year. The growth in orders and prices made it possible to offset the higher costs.
The pulp and paper company’s profits increased 57% last year, to €171.4 million. A result that benefited from an improved EBITDA, which increased 24.2% to €354.7 million.
Due to the positive results, the Board of Directors will propose to distribute an additional dividend of 14.06 cents per share, for a total amount close to €100 million.
“The recovery on paper consumption boosted by the economic upturn, allied with the improvement between the supply and demand in the United States, Europe and MENA region, following the capacity closures and conversions already announced, allowed for a good performance both of the industry and Navigator in particular in 2021,” the company points out in a statement.
Margin also improved slightly, with the ratio between EBITDA and sales rising from 20.6% to 22.2%. This was despite increased costs for raw materials, logistics (particularly in shipping) and energy, which was the “biggest challenge” Navigator faced in 2021.
An impact that the company says it offset with “the implementation of price rises across all businesses” and a strong inflow of orders, with prominent figures in the third and fourth quarters. In printing and writing paper (UWF) the highest order book ever was achieved.
The different segments registered, however, different behaviours. While the sales volume of paper increased 16% to 1,474 thousand tonnes, pulp sales dropped 26% to 292 thousand tonnes and tissue sales dropped 1% to 105 thousand tonnes.
Net debt fell slightly (€85 million) to €595 million. The net debt ratio remained at a “comfortable level of 1.68x”.
The year ended with good growth momentum, with the company’s turnover reaching €476 million in the fourth quarter, up 18% from July to September and 40% more than in the same period of 2020. EBITDA totalled €109 million and net income was 57 million.
Navigator highlights the pulp price’s strong growth (68% compared with the fourth quarter of 2020) and the rise of the paper price index in Europe in the fourth quarter of 2021.
