Corbion: Q2 and first half 2015 results

Amsterdam / NL. (cb) Corbion reported Q2/2015 sales of 232.3 million EUR, an increase of 23.4 percent compared to Q2/2014. Organic sales growth was 4.5 percent, mostly driven by volume growth. Ebitda excluding one-off items in Q2/2015 increased by 49.6 percent to 40.1 million EUR. Organic Ebitda growth in Q2/2015 amounted to 23.1 percent.

«We can look back on a strong second quarter. Biobased Ingredients delivered organic sales growth close to the upper bound of the 2015 to 2018 guidance CAGR range. Ebitda grew strongly, driven by organic growth, the continuing strength of the US Dollar, and the benefits of our productivity improvement program Streamline, which are coming through at a more rapid pace than initially expected. We are making good progress with the execution of our strategy Disciplined Value Creation», comments Tjerk de Ruiter, CEO.

Key financial highlights Q2/2015 and HY-2015:

• Net sales in Q2 increased by 23.4 percent to 232.3 million EUR, 4.5 percent organic growth
• Ebitda before one-off items in Q2 was 40.1 million EUR, an increase of 49.6 percent (an organic increase of 23.1 percent). Ebitda margin before one-off items was 17.3 percent in Q2 (Q2/2014: 14.2 percent)
• Capex in HY-2015 was 27.3 million EUR. Net debt at half year-end 2015 was 72.1 million EUR (Q4 2014: net cash of 5.8 million EUR)
• One-off items included in EBIT in HY-2015 of 1.3 million EUR, related to the Grandview incident
• The productivity improvement program Streamline is on track. The positive impact on the Q2/2015 Ebitda was 4.3 million EUR
• EPS HY-2015 was 0.55 EUR (HY-2014: 0.00 EUR)
• We distributed an extraordinary dividend of 50 million EUR on 12 June 2015. The share buyback program that commenced in March reached 31.9 million EUR by June 30, around two thirds of the 50 million EUR targeted total by the end of 2015

Management review Q2/2015

Net sales in Q2 increased by 23.4 percent to 232.3 million EUR (Q2/2014: 188.3 million EUR) due to organic growth (4.5 percent), acquisition effect (1.5 percent), and currency movements (17.4 percent). The currency impact was mainly driven by a stronger US Dollar against the euro. Organic sales growth in Biobased Ingredients was 3.5 percent, comprising volume growth 3.7 percent, and price/mix effects minus 0.2 percent. Volume growth in Food was driven by Bakery and Meat. Sales growth in Biochemicals was notably in Electronics and Pharma. Organic growth in Biobased Innovations was driven by Bioplastics.

Ebitda (excluding one-off items) increased by 49.6 percent to 40.1 million EUR. This increase was driven by organic growth of 23.1 percent and a positive currency impact of 6.2 million EUR. Organic growth was mainly driven by increased volumes as well as benefits from our productivity improvement program Streamline (4.3 million EUR).

Management review HY-2015

Net sales in HY-2015 increased by 21.9 percent to 452.3 million EUR (2014: 371.0 million EUR) driven by currencies (16.5 percent), acquisition (0.7 percent), and organic growth (4.7 percent). Exchange rate movements impacted the sales figures positively by 61.2 million EUR mainly driven by a stronger US Dollar. The acquisition impact is related to our acquisition of the Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) lactic acid business effective as of 31 March 2015.

Organic growth in the Biobased Ingredients business unit of 3.9 percent was driven by both business segments. In business segment Food, volume growth (4.0 percent) was driving organic growth (3.4 percent). Price/mix in Food was slightly negative (minus 0.6 percent). In the Biochemicals business segment, price/mix increased by 4.5 percent driven by strong Medical Biomaterial sale and the lower contribution of Feed acidifiers. The growth in Biobased Innovations was driven by Bioplastics.

Ebitda (excluding one-off items) increased by 48.9 percent to 77.3 million EUR which included a positive currency impact of 10.2 million EUR. Biobased Ingredients’ Ebitda increased by 38.3 percent which was mainly driven by currencies and organic growth which comprises a positive volume growth and reduced costs. Streamline contributed 6.8 million EUR to the Ebitda growth. The Biobased Innovations Ebitda increase was mainly driven by sales.

Operating result excluding one-off items increased by 24.1 million EUR, or 79.0 percent, to 54.6 million EUR in 2015 (2014: 30.5 million EUR).

Outlook 2015

For 2015, in our business segment Food, we anticipate growth at the upper half of our guidance range. In our business segment Biochemicals, due to the more difficult comparison we expect to grow near the lower end of the guidance range in 2015. The majority of the targeted 20 million EUR savings from our Streamline program will be achieved in 2015 rather than in 2016. In Biobased Innovations, we anticipate in H2 a higher R+D expense level. Overall we expect for H2 a slightly lower Ebitda excluding one-off items, compared to H1 2015.