Sibelco today announced
that confirmed the recovery in most of the sectors served by the company. Revenues and EBITDA were well above those of 2020 and also comfortably above the pre-pandemic levels of 2019 at constant scope. Sibelco has continued to deploy its Sibelco 2025 vision and strategy that was launched in early 2021. This maps out a transformational path to local ownership of operational excellence, greater customer centricity and best in class financial performance whilst embedding a clear commitment to sustainability.
Highlights
- Sibelco’s continuing operations (i.e. excluding the effect of divestments and closures) generated an increase in revenue of 20% (from EUR 1,393 million to EUR 1,674 million). This increase was driven both by higher sales volumes resulting from the recovery in most of Sibelco’s end-markets and higher prices.
- For Sibelco’s continuing operations, the improvement in EBITDA compared to 2020 was 32% (from EUR 204 million to EUR 270 million). The EBITDA margin (EBITDA/revenue) for the continuing activities of 16.1% was above the 2019 pre-pandemic level of 15.7%.
- Sibelco’s continuing operations generated free operating cash flow of EUR 81 million, almost three times the level of 2020 and up EUR 90 million compared to 2019. The improving business environment and resulting higher sales led to a slight increase in net working capital. The Group's net cash position at year end was EUR 147 million compared to EUR 168 million at 31 December 2020.
- Sibelco’s continuing operations booked a non-recurring charge of EUR 29 million to EBIT, almost all of which (EUR 26 million) was related to the proposed restructuring initiative announced in November 2021.
- The Board of Directors will propose a dividend of EUR 117.2 per share for the full year of 2021 for approval by shareholders at the Annual Shareholders’ Meeting in April 2022. This represents an 11% increase vs 2020.
- Sibelco’s safety performance continued to improve with a recordable injury rate (RIR) of 1.7. This was below Sibelco’s improvement target for 2021 and well below the RIR for 2020 of 4.0.
- Sibelco made good progress towards its sustainability goals and introduced ambitious Scope 1 and Scope 2 carbon reduction goals as part of its Sibelco 2025 strategy.
Commenting on the results, Hilmar Rode said
“Most customers saw a steady improvement in their business activity during 2021 and the underlying trends are positive for Sibelco. While we still have a long way to go to deliver on our potential, we can be encouraged by this positive first year working towards our strategic goals. As we look to 2022, demand for Sibelco’s products has been robust during the first two months of the year. Cost inflation remains prevalent, notably for energy and transportation, and management is continuing to take steps to mitigate the impact of these higher costs. Although overall trends point to a further improvement in profitability in 2022, the conflict in Ukraine has the potential to undermine the global economic recovery and is impacting Sibelco’s business in both Ukraine and Russia, which together in 2021 accounted for some 8% of Sibelco’s revenues and 10% of EBITDA”.
Hilmar Rode
Sibelco CEO
