Suominen - Margin gains, volume losses

Suominen reports Q2 results next week, on Wed, Aug 7. In Q1 the company’s gross margin improved to 8.1% (compared to the 6.2% low in Q4’18) as raw material costs remained stable and price hikes came into effect. We expect the gross margin improvement trend to continue throughout 2019, but the main question concerns volume losses following price hikes. We leave our previous estimates unchanged for now. Our target price still stands at EUR 2.85 per share; our new rating is BUY (HOLD).

Volume declines in focus following the hiking of prices

In our view Suominen’s declining earnings trend bottomed out in Q1 as price hikes and stabilizing raw material costs drove improvement in gross margin. Q1’19 gross margin stood at 8.1%; we expect Q2 gross margin at 8.7%. However, the company lost significant delivery volumes. We estimate Suominen’s delivery volume losses amounted to some 9% in Q1; we expect losses of similar magnitude for the remainder of 2019. Our expectation for Q2 is EUR 113m in revenue and EUR 3.3m in EBIT.

Expect flat input costs and price hikes to lift ‘19e earnings

While the EURUSD exchange rate has remained steady during the last three months, European softwood pulp prices have declined further, by about 10%. The development is beneficial from Suominen’s point of view, softwood pulp being a key nonwovens raw material. Meanwhile polypropylene prices have increased by a roughly similar percentage. According to Lenzing, viscose and polyester prices remained stable during spring (development until Apr 15). All in all, raw material costs have been flat. We expect ‘19e revenue at EUR 436m and EBIT at EUR 13.3m, assuming stable input costs for the remainder of the year.

We leave our estimates intact ahead of the report

Suominen is valued at ca. 6.0x EV/EBITDA ‘19e (on our estimates) vs historical average of 6.5x. Suominen’s peer group multiples have gained during the last three months, and although there is still uncertainty concerning delivery volumes, we consider the current valuation undemanding. We retain our TP of EUR 2.85 per share, and thus our updated rating is BUY (HOLD).

Open Report