UPMMY - UPM-Kymmene Oyj (UPMKF) Q4 2023 Earnings Call Transcript
2024-02-01 16:01:06 ET
UPM-Kymmene Oyj (UPMKF)
Q4 2023 Results Conference Call
February 1, 2024 06:15 AM ET
Company Participants
Massimo Reynaudo - President and CEO
Tapio Korpeinen - CFO
Conference Call Participants
Robin Santavirta - Carnegie
Charlie Muir-Sands - BNP Paribas Exane
Johannes Grunselius - DNB Markets
Andrew Jones - UBS
Ram Kamath - Barclays
Patrick Mann - Bank of America
Laurent Vergnault - CreditSights
Cole Hathorn - Jefferies
Presentation
Massimo Reynaudo
Good morning, good afternoon. Welcome to the UPM 2023 Results Webcast. My name is Massimo Reynaudo. I'm the CEO of UPM. Here with me is Tapio Korpeinen, CFO of UPM.
Tapio Korpeinen
Hello to everyone on the line.
Massimo Reynaudo
This is my first presentation of the results after I took over the current position at the beginning of the year. I'm very happy to be here today, and I look forward to the possibility to meet you personally during the next weeks and months. But now let's get to the results. All in all, we delivered a solid performance, solid results for the full year 2023 in a challenging operating environment.
During the first half of the year, we had to cope with an exceptionally sharp downturn, especially in the European markets. Consumer product markets slowed down and unprecedented destocking affected the deliveries of most products well beyond the normal cyclicality.
Pulp and energy prices fell to cyclical bottom levels during the summer period. In the second half of the year, we have seen signs of gradual recovery in many product markets, and we have been able to deliver improving earnings. Our quarter four comparable EBIT increased by 47% from the previous quarter and comparable EBIT margin reached a level of 12.8%.
The highlight of the year has been the completion of two transformative investments, the Paso de los Toros pulp mill in Uruguay and the Olkiluoto 3 nuclear power plant unit in Finland. Both started production in the second quarter and contributed to our deliveries during the second half of the year. 2024 will be the first full year of production for both units.
Besides ramping up these projects, we implemented a number of successful initiatives in the area of margin management. We took decisive actions to reduce variable and fixed costs and adjusted our capacity to the reduced demand. In 2023, our operating cash flow reached a record level, and our financial position continues to be strong. Now in the beginning of 2024, we can say that we have turned the corner in an exceptional business cycle. But before talking about 2024, I'll hand over to Tapio, who will discuss the quarter four results in more detail....
UPM-Kymmene Oyj (UPMKF) Q4 2023 Earnings Call Transcript