Hi!
Indeed, we had a strong end to the year. The result received additional support from a couple of directions:
- Many of our customers were very active in campaigning, which supported sales volumes
- Some customers increased their purchases to build up their inventories before potential US tariffs
- For the Fiber segment, profitability (and growth) were at an exceptionally good level. The margin clearly recovered from the weaker Q3 level, where increased raw material costs were passed on to pricing, but this happens with a certain delay.
The dividend proposal is 1.10, an increase from last year’s level of 1.05. This would be the 16th consecutive year of growth, the longest on the Helsinki Stock Exchange.
We also announced the split of the Fiber Foodservice EAO segment into two, so that the smaller but profitable Fiber business would receive more attention. This will come into effect on April 1, 2025. In external reporting, these have already been separate, so there will be no significant changes to reporting, possibly some minor fine-tuning.
In the future, we will also organize our own “earnings call” for sustainability, so that this theme receives more attention. The call will be held on March 24th; we will publish more information about it later.
As always, I’m happy to answer questions here!
/Kristian