2022-05-19 07:30:00 CEST

2022-05-19 07:30:18 CEST


REGULATED INFORMATION

English
Anora Group Oyj - Interim report (Q1 and Q3)

Anora Q1 22: Solid net sales development in turbulent times


Anora Group Plc   Stock Exchange Release  19 May 2022 at 8:30 am EET

Anora Q1 22: Solid net sales development in turbulent times

This release is a summary of Anora Group Plc's Interim Report January-March
2022. The complete report is attached to this release and is also available on
the company website at: www.anora.com/en/investors

Q1 22 in brief

  · Net sales were EUR 133.4 million, 0.6% below the Q1 21 pro forma net sales
of EUR 134.2 million
  · Comparable EBITDA was EUR 13.0 million or 9.8% of net sales (Q1 21 pro
forma: EUR 16.7 million or 12.4%)
  · Net cash flow from operating activities was EUR -38.6 (-0.3) million
  · Earnings per share EUR 0.03 (Q1 21 pro forma: 0.04)
  · Net debt/comparable EBITDA (rolling 12 months) was 2.2 (0.2)
  · The normalising of the channel mix in the monopoly countries and the late
timing of Easter in Q2 this year have impacted beverage sales

Guidance

Guidance remains unchanged: Anora’s comparable EBITDA in 2022 is expected to be
between EUR 75-85 million. This corresponds to the pre-pandemic level and takes
into account the annual impact of EUR 4.6 million of the divestment of Anora
brands due to the 2021 merger.

Key figures

                                                      Q1 22  Q1 21 IFRS  2021
Net sales, EUR million                                133.4  71.7*       478.2
Comparable EBITDA, EUR million                        13.0   7.7*        71.7
   % of net sales                                     9.8    10.8*       15.0
EBITDA, EUR million                                   11.9   4.6         62.9
Comparable operating result, EUR million              5.2    3.9         51.2
   % of net sales                                     3.9    5.4         10.7
Operating result, EUR million                         4.1    0.7         42.4
Result for the period, EUR million                    2.1    0.7         31.2
Earnings per share, EUR                               0.03   0.02*       0.67
Net cash flow from operating activities, EUR million  -38.6  -0.3        50.8
Net debt / comparable EBITDA (rolling 12 months)      2.2**  0.2         1.8
Personnel end of period                               1 085  652         1 055

* Q1 21 pro forma: net sales EUR 134.2 million; comparable EBITDA EUR 16.7
million or 12.4% of net sales; EPS EUR 0.04.
** Net debt / comparable EBITDA (rolling 12 months) calculated with pro forma
comparable EBITDA was 1.7.

CEO Pekka Tennilä:

Anora’s first year as a combined company started off with underlying business
developing largely in line with our expectations, despite the turbulence in our
operating environment.

For wine and spirits, we saw markets returning to normal during the first
quarter, as expected. Volumes in the monopolies have declined, as restrictions
were lifted in all markets. Consumption has shifted back to on-trade, travel
retail and border trade, and the recovery of these sales channels has been good
or even strong.

The significant increase of input costs that we experienced already at the end
of last year has further accelerated due to the war in Ukraine. To mitigate this
cost inflation, we have increased prices in all sales channels and across both
beverage and industrial products. Price increases were implemented already at
the end of last year and continued in the first quarter, but in the current
inflationary environment, we will need to continue with further price increases
throughout the rest of the year.

For the first quarter, Anora’s net sales were EUR 133.4 million, which was
slightly below last year’s pro forma net sales of EUR 134.2 million. This year
beverage sales in Q1 were impacted by the later timing of Easter sales occuring
in Q2 rather than in Q1 as last year. Further, wine sales declined in line with
the declining market volumes, while spirits sales grew thanks to the recovery of
travel retail. On the industrial side price increases due to the high raw
material costs supported net sales development positively. Profitability
weakened in Q1 due to the price increases only partly offsetting high input
costs, and the lower wine sales. Comparable EBITDA reached EUR 13.0 million, or
9.8% of net sales.

Our post-merger integration work has progressed as planned and on schedule.
During the first quarter, we have achieved an important milestone with the
consolidation of logistics volumes. We have completed the projects to insource
third party logistics operations in both Norway and Finland, while Sweden is
expected to be completed during Q3 22. The run-rate of annualised net synergies
at the end of Q1 22 was EUR 1.9 million, including the annual impact of EUR 4.6
million from the divestment of brands.

We strongly condemn Russia’s war against Ukraine and respect all sanctions that
have been set. When the war started, we reacted quickly and suspended exports to
Russia, and in our Baltic operations we suspended purchases of raw materials
from Russia and Belarus. Discontinuing exports to Russia does not have a
material impact on Group net sales, but due to the war, global supply chain
disruptions and constraints in the supply of grain have further increased.

We are working hard to secure the availability of raw materials. Currently, the
biggest concerns are with the availability of  barley, bulk wine and glass
bottles, in particular. In our supply chain operations, the teams are doing
continuity planning and working very closely with our partners and suppliers.

During the previous two years, when the pandemic impacted our operating
environment significantly, we were able to adapt and respond quickly to changes.
This proves the strength of our stable business and the resilience and strong
commitment of our employees – we are in a strong position to manage through
these challenging times. I want to take this opportunity to thank all Anora
employees for their hard work during the start of the year.

Looking forward, the operating environment continues to be unstable, and while
it is difficult to foresee all impacts on our business, we will continue to
focus on growth and invest in our brands as well as to build the market together
with our partners and customers. Meanwhile, work on Anora’s growth strategy
progresses, and we look forward to discussing Anora’s future growth ambitions
and sustainability roadmap in our first Capital Markets Day planned to be held
in the autumn.

For the rest of the year, we reiterate our guidance: we expect Anora’s
comparable EBITDA in 2022 to be between EUR 75-85 million.

Outlook for 2022

Market outlook

In 2022, the volumes in the monopolies are expected to be significantly lower
than in 2020 and 2021 as the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions result in higher
on-trade, border trade and duty-free sales. Input costs are expected to remain
at a high level.

Guidance

Guidance remains unchanged: Anora’s comparable EBITDA in 2022 is expected to be
between EUR 75-85 million. This corresponds to the pre-pandemic level and takes
into account the annual impact of EUR 4.6 million of the divestment of Anora
brands due to the merger.

ANORA GROUP PLC

Further information:

Pekka Tennilä, CEO

Sigmund Toth, CFO

Contacts:

Analysts and investors: Tua Stenius-Örnhjelm, Investor Relations, tel. +358 40
748 8864

Media: Petra Gräsbeck, Corporate Communications, tel. +358 40 767 0867

Results presentation:

CEO Pekka Tennilä and CFO Sigmund Toth will present the report today at 11:00 am
EET. The presentation will be held as a Microsoft Teams Meeting and we recommend
that participants join the event using the online meeting option: Join meeting
here (https://teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup
-join/19%3ameeting_YmZkMTZjNzMtYjZjOC00MzBjLThjZjUtYmNhMTViMDE4NWI2%40thread.v2/0
?context=%7b%22Tid%22%3a%22c32b30ff-5871-4a7d-a29e
-6f63e6b0ebfd%22%2c%22Oid%22%3a%22d962bdab-ca8e-4e3f-9cc3-2f868d5a7ef3%22%7d)

It is also possible to dial-in to the meeting about 5 minutes earlier at the
following numbers:

FI: +358 9 2310 6678

NO: +47 21 40 41 04

SE: +46 8 502 428 54

UK: +44 20 7660 8309

US: +1 917-781-4622

Conference ID: 901 660 618#

Q&A

Questions to the management can be sent through the Teams chat.

Presentation material

The presentation material will be shared in the online meeting and it can be
downloaded at: www.anora.com/en/investors

On-demand recording

A recording of the event will be available on Anora’s website.

Distribution:

Nasdaq Helsinki Ltd

Principal media

www.anora.com

Anora is a leading wine and spirits brand house in the Nordic region and
aglobalindustry forerunner in sustainability. Our market-leading portfolio
consists of our own iconic Nordic brands and a wide range of prominent
international partner wines and spirits. We export to over 30 markets globally.
Anora Group also includes Anora Industrial and logistics company Vectura. In
2021, Anora’s pro forma net sales were EUR 665 million and the company employs
about 1,100 professionals. Anora’s shares are listed on Nasdaq Helsinki.


05196436.pdf