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Navigator net profit rises 18% to 172 million euros

Navigator’s net profit rose 18% in the first nine months of the year to 172 million euros, according to data released to the Securities and Exchange Commission.

According to Navigator figures, EBITDA (earnings before taxes, interest, depreciation and amortization) increased by 14% to € 341 million, up from € 300 million a year ago.

The company adds that positive price developments have made it possible to offset the loss of available-for-sale volume due to scheduled and unscheduled maintenance stops at its plants.

The Navigator Company recorded a turnover of 1,252 million euros in the first nine months of 2018, a 3.5% increase over the first nine months of 2017. With sales of 926 million, the paper segment accounted for 74% of turnover, energy 10% (127 million), pulp about 9% (115 million), and tissue business 5% (65 million).

The company points out that the pulp business was affected by the two large stops that occurred during the year: the first one for maintenance at the Setúbal plant during the first quarter and the second during the second quarter at the Figueira da Foz plant for maintenance, which was extended to allow the completion of the project to increase installed capacity.

“The high number of shutdown days, as well as the need to build stocks in the previous months, strongly conditioned the availability of pulp for sale in the Group in the first nine months of 2018,” he reports.

As a result, Navigator’s sales stood at 177,000 tonnes, 30% below the volume registered in the first nine months of 2017, a period that benefited from some “unpacking” that did not occur in 2018 due to insufficient stocks at the beginning of the year.

The decrease in volume was partially offset by the increase in the selling price, so sales in value reflect a reduction of 11% to about 115 million euros, Navigator said.

In the paper business, UWF sales totalled 1,137 thousand tons, standing 2% below the same period of the previous year, mainly due to deviations in production that resulted from some unscheduled stops, as well as the need to reconstitute stocks in order to ensure an adequate level of customer service.

On the other hand, in the tissue business, there was an upward adjustment of the average selling price compared to the same period of 2017 (+ 7%), as a result of the improvement in the product mix, with the lower weight of reels and a higher percentage of finished product, as well as the price increases applied.

In the energy business, there was a recovery in the 3rd quarter of the value of electric energy sales, which led to an increase of around 2.9% compared to the first nine months of the previous year (127 million), benefiting of the increase in the indexes of the sale, namely Brent’s quotation in the international market.

“Despite the increase in the value of sales, total gross electricity production fell by 1.7% over the same period of the previous year, mainly due to the pulp mill stops, but reached the overall value of production of 1.63 TWh, “the company writes.

In the data communicated to the CMVM, Navigator recalls that the cost reduction program M2 “continues with a positive impact on EBITDA estimated at Euro 17.2 million”.

Net debt in the first nine months of the year stood at 732 million, “after paying 200 million in dividends in June.”

Already the investment rose to 148 million euros, after “acceleration of disbursements with the completion of development projects in Cacia (Tissue) and Figueira da Foz (Pasta).”

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