Alright, it’s reporting time again and Huhtamäki’s Q4 numbers are out. We were up against a fairly strong Q4 24. Overall, demand was similar to Q3. Demand remains weak overall, although some good segments can be found. Net sales decreased by 7%, but by 2% on a comparable basis. Foreign exchange rates had a significant negative impact on both net sales and operating profit, especially due to the weakened dollar. Adjusted operating profit was 103.2m, including a 4.3m currency impact. The margin strengthened further, rising to 10.5%. While we are pleased with the progress, it is clear that growth is missing, and it is our highest priority.
Over the past year, we have focused on driving three priority areas: growth by leveraging all options, disciplined use of capital, and clear responsibilities and acceleration of execution. We renewed our operating model and took a significantly tighter grip on capital allocation. We focused on leveraging investments made in previous years, and as a result, investments decreased by 31% during the year. This partly supported the cash flow, which was strong, and net debt to adjusted EBITDA fell to 1.9. Full-year adjusted earnings per share was exactly the same as in 2024. Based on this and the strong cash flow, the Board proposes a dividend of EUR 1.14 per share to the Annual General Meeting. This would be the 17th consecutive year of dividend growth, the longest streak currently on the Helsinki Stock Exchange. The dividend payout ratio would be 46%, which is within our 40-50% range.
Schedule for late winter and spring:
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Annual Report will be published in the week starting March 2nd
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Sustainability earnings call on March 23rd at 3:00 PM
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Q1 report and Annual General Meeting on April 29th
Additionally, I will be moving to different duties within the company. I am moving to the finance side of our Flexible Packaging segment. We are currently looking for my successor, and I will switch roles once my successor has started. I will likely still be commenting on the Q1 figures here, but that remains to be seen. In any case, I would like to thank all the forum members for the great questions already!
/Kristian