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2024-02-23 10:41:00 CET 2024-02-23 10:41:10 CET REGULATED INFORMATION Afarak Group SE - Financial Statement ReleaseAFARAK GROUP SE: FINANCIAL STATEMENTS RELEASE 202309:45 London, 11:45 Helsinki, 23 February 2024 - Afarak Group SE ("Afarak" or "the Company") (LSE: AFRK, NASDAQ: AFAGR) FINANCIAL STATEMENTS RELEASE 2023
SECOND HALF 2023 HIGHLIGHTS
FULL YEAR 2023 HIGHLIGHTS
MARKET SENTIMENT FOR 2024 The Indian and Chinese in-flows seem to be reducing, due to high logistics cost (cf. Suez Canal situation), and somewhat stronger internal demands. Hence we foresee a slightly more friendly market outlook, at least for the first quarter 2024. The interest rates should also reduce over 2024. Afarak has been for many years now the only Western producer of low carbon ferro-chrome, a critical material for the production of the Aerospace, Automotive, Green energies, and various other industries. We had to reduce our output of standard grades, as we could not produce and sell those in an economically responsible way, but we continue to improve our productivity and efficiency, so as to cope better and better with adverse market conditions. We expect the margin pressure to continue, at least through H1/2024, due to the weak state of the stainless steel industry, mostly in Europe. DIVIDEND PROPOSAL The Board of Directors will propose a new dividend policy to the Annual General Meeting,. The Group will in future review its distributions to shareholders either through a capital redemption or dividend. The target dividend payout ratio in respect to each financial year shall be minimum 10% (ten percent) of the Afarak Group's EBITDA per full year. This new policy will allow the board to take prudent decisions based on market conditions whilst continuing to share its positive results with shareholders. CEO GUY KONSBRUCK In our previous release we stated: “For H2 we foresee an ongoing challenging market environment, with further weak global market prices, combined with low demand. A lot will depend on the central banks inflation strategy, the recent government policies such as the US Inflation Reduction Act, the EU’s proposed Green Deal and the further development of the present geo-political tensions both in Europe and South-East Asia as well.” We were proven right. The second half year 2023 was characterized by very sluggish markets and serious pressure on prices by the Russian imported material as well as the strong pressure of other imported materials from India and China. It took until the very end of 2023 for the EU, to put imports of Russian ferroalloys on the sanction list. Our margins were also impacted by high interest rates and freight cost. Nevertheless, we continued to be profitable and cash positive. As expected, the ferro-alloys segment continued to perform well and improved the group’s profitability. We have been driving forward the drilling and exploration work in our Magnochrome plant and expect a complete and updated feasibility study by end of May 2024. With all above in mind, we are still presenting in 2023 one of the best results in AFARAK’s history, which is largely an achievement of my ever so committed colleagues and EMT members. Helsinki, February 23, 2024 Afarak Group SE Board of Directors For additional information, please contact: Guy Konsbruck, CEO, +356 2122 1566, guy.konsbruck@afarak.com Afarak Group is a specialist alloy producer focused on delivering sustainable growth with a Speciality Alloys business in southern Europe and a FerroAlloys business in South Africa. The Company is listed on NASDAQ Helsinki (AFAGR) and the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange (AFRK). Distribution: Attachment ![]() |
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