Half Year 2024 Holmen AB Earnings Call Transcript
Key Points
- Holmen AB (HLMMF) reported a strong financial position with a net debt of 6% of equity, even after paying SEK1.8 billion in dividends.
- The company achieved a 16% return on capital employed in the first half of the year, aligning with its historical average of 18%.
- Holmen AB (HLMMF) plans to buy back up to 3 million shares, indicating confidence in its financial stability and future prospects.
- The forestry division benefited from higher wood prices, leading to increased cash flow and profitability.
- The board and paper division showed improved order books and stable pricing, with a favorable product mix contributing to rising quarterly profits.
- The wood market in Sweden is experiencing supply shortages, leading to historically high price gaps between northern and southern regions.
- Demand for wood products remains weak globally, with prices moving sideways at best, driven by supply constraints rather than strong demand.
- The electricity division faced reduced profitability due to a 20% drop in Swedish electricity prices compared to the average second quarter.
- Holmen AB (HLMMF) faces challenges in the paper market, with industry operating rates around 75%, below the optimal 90% for profitability.
- The company is exposed to the spot market for energy, which can lead to volatility in profitability, as seen with the unhedged electricity prices.
Good morning, everybody, and welcome to the interim report presentation for Holmen. It's me, Henrik Sjölund, and Anders Jernhall. We'll go through the presentation, and then we'll take any questions you might have after the presentation.
So let's start. First of all, a comment on the result, which was SEK980 million and a bit more in the second quarter, which is actually a good result. We think, given the market conditions we have and the economic situation we have, and particularly happy about board and paper, actually.
And if we look at our industry and how we have performed, and we include also wood products, and take a look also back some years, we can see that, well, in the first half year of this year, we performed some 16% return on capital employed. And if you look at what we have done over the last 10 years, we have reached an average of 18%.
If you then look at our financial position, we have a very strong financial position, also after having paid SEK1.8 billion in dividend in the second
| Access to All Earning Calls and Stock Analysis | |
| 30-Year Financial on one screen | |
| All-in-one Stock Screener with unlimited filters | |
| Customizable Stock Dashboard | |
| Real Time Insider Trading Transactions | |
| 8,000+ Institutional investors’ 13F holdings | |
| Powerful Excel Add-in and Google sheets Add-on | |
| All data downloadable | |
| Quick customer support | |
| And much more... |
Trustpilot
We'd love to learn more about your experiences on GuruFocus.com and how we can improve!
Take Survey
