Sibelco today announced its
. Market conditions in Europe were difficult with sales volumes down due to the slow-down in construction and certain targeted consumer good segments relevant for Sibelco’s activities. A notably strong performance from Sibelco’s USA high purity quartz (HPQ) business compensated for the lacklustre European performance and was a key driver behind the group’s positive results. Rapid growth in the solar energy market drove high demand for Sibelco’s premium quality HPQ material.
Highlights
• A strong safety performance with a recordable incident rate of 1.73, placing Sibelco in the top quartile of companies in the mining and metals industry* for a third consecutive year;
• Revenue up 4.7% against the previous year to € 2,104 million;
• EBITDA up 22.3% to € 414 million;
• Free operating cash flow (FOCF) adjusted for leasing reached € 441 million against € 161 million in 2022. Net of factoring and customer prepayment effects, the FOCF would have been € 153 million in 2023 compared to € 87 million for 2022;
• The company made good progress towards its sustainability targets, cutting absolute scope 1 & 2 carbon emissions by 23%** against the previous year, and emissions intensity by 30%***;
• Responding to rapid growth in the solar energy market, Sibelco initiated a major expansion of its HPQ operation in Spruce Pine (USA). The first phase of the project will double installed capacity with an investment of USD 200 million. Feasibility studies for a second phase of expansion that would be executed from 2024 – 2027, are underway;
• Sibelco completed the second tranche of a AUD 49 million investment in its joint venture with Diatreme Resources, an emerging Australian producer of low iron silica. Sibelco also formed a JV with Avalon in Canada to supply lithium feldspar and delivered the first large-scale consignment of olivine for carbon sequestration in a partnership with Eion;
• Sibelco successfully divested its Russian business;
• Through a successful Share Buy Back on February 15, 2024 in the amount of € 609.6 million (fixed price component only), the company acquired 88,989 of its own shares; and
• The Board of Directors will propose a dividend of € 146 per share for the full year of 2023, a 25% increase compared to 2022, for approval by shareholders at the Annual Shareholders’ Meeting in April 2024.
Commenting on the results,
The cumulative impact of the recent period of high energy costs, high inflation and high interest rates has led to a strong cyclical downturn in demand for Sibelco’s products across most of its markets, especially in Europe. We are therefore pleased that Sibelco was able to deliver strong results in 2023 despite this very challenging economic environment. It is of concern that we also start to see clear signs of structural deindustrialisation in Europe. The ongoing implementation of our Sibelco 2025 strategy will help to address the resulting profitability challenges. Construction and glass packaging suffered notably while demand for glass recycling remained resilient. On the positive side, our Spruce Pine (USA) high purity quartz (HPQ) business benefited from strong demand in the solar energy sector. Responding to these conditions, we began the first phase of a major expansion of Spruce Pine that will strengthen Sibelco’s position as the world’s leading provider of high purity quartz.
Hilmar Rode
CEO
* based on member safety performance data collated by the International Council on Mining & Metals
