Highlights
• For another year in a row Etex achieved new record operational performance, especially in revenue and REBITDA, while accelerating on its sustainability ambitions.
• Record revenue of EUR 3.808 billion, despite low market demand, corresponding to an increase of 2.5% compared to 2022. This is attributable mainly to growth in plasterboard solutions and to additional revenue from the new Insulation division. Like-for-like¹ it represents an increase of 0.7%.
• Highest value ever for REBITDA, at EUR 712 million, a 10.4% increase versus 2022, driven mostly by responsive margin management. Like-for-like¹ increase of 9.6% versus 2022.
• Increase of the net profit (Group share) to EUR 267 million, a 26.8% improvement compared to 2022, thanks to the one-off gain on reselling an interest rates’ hedging contract. The net recurring profit (Group share) also improved, at EUR 278 million, +1.1% year-on-year. The net recurring profit was negatively impacted by hyperinflation accounting in Argentina for EUR 23 million.
• Almost unchanged net financial debt at EUR 1.039 billion versus EUR 1.031 billion in 2022. Strong cash flow generation and proceeds from disposal of some assets and businesses allowed to finance record high capital expenditure investments in infrastructure (EUR 371 million), and the acquisitions of Skamol (high-temperature insulation), Superglass (glass wool insulation) and SCALAMID (fibre cement).
• Etex stopped all operations in Russia.
• Gross dividend: proposal by the Board of Directors of EUR 1.03 per share (+10.8%).
• Sustainability: significant progress towards Etex’s 2030 sustainability ambitions on decarbonisation, circularity, customer engagement, and diversity, equity and inclusion.
• Outlook for 2024: amidst ongoing uncertainty and market volatility across geographies expected to persist, with current soft and volatile volumes and no imminent full recovery in sight, Etex targets for a continuing strong REBITDA margin. Etex will continue investing in 2024, preparing for further growth and keep exploring potential strategic opportunities.
• Etex emphasises that, with its product portfolio, it is part of the solution to reach the ambitious EU environmental targets. In view of this urgent challenge, the company calls for a holistic, and effective plan to boost, finance and simplify access to new build and renovation, in each of the EU countries.
• Etex’s combined Annual and Sustainability Report 2023 will be published on 23 April 2024.
• Watch Etex’s CEO Bernard Delvaux short video on the full-year results.
Comments from Bernard Delvaux, CEO of Etex: “Even more so than 2022, 2023 was a challenging year marked by volatility, uncertainty, and severe drops in demand across the world as we observed the continued impacts of increased energy prices and interest rates. Combined with tougher financing possibilities by banks, all these circumstances meant that both renovation and new construction levels dropped globally. Devaluation of some foreign currencies and hyperinflation accounting also had significant effects on our results. Despite all these challenges, I am extremely proud to share that Etex navigated these difficult waters very well and delivered yet again another record year. This includes our highest ever revenue and REBITDA, among others.
This strong performance stems from our anticipation in making strategic decisions and changes at global, regional, and local levels, ensuring continued proximity with our customers. This is also a result of even tighter cost monitoring in 2023 without ever losing sight of our long-term ambitions and continuing to improve our strong industrial footprint. Our factories are at the heart of what we do. With a record EUR 371 million capital expenditure, we further invested to maintain and improve our production facilities.
We continued to advance on our strategic position as a world leader in lightweight construction through several key acquisitions within our core expertise, namely Skamol in high-temperature insulation, Superglass in glass wool insulation, SCALAMID in fibre cement and most recently in February 2024 BGC’s plasterboard and fibre cement businesses. In the summer, we also completed the process of exiting Russia by divesting two operating sites in the country. These sites were part of the original URSA insulation footprint acquired before the invasion took place. We are actively preparing to help rebuild Ukraine as soon as it is possible and safe to do so.
2023 was also a year of acceleration on our 2030 sustainability ambitions. To name a few, we achieved a 22.8% CO₂ absolute emission reduction in scopes 1 and 2 compared to our 2018 reference baseline. We also had over 7.4% recycled material across product technologies, surpassing our 2022 performance by 26%. Etex stands out as a top recycling performer in Europe with 8.6% recycled gypsum, close to 47% recycled polystyrene and around 75% recycled glass. Finally, we remain in the top 10% of construction products companies worldwide in terms of ESG risk rating.
For 2024, we expect market conditions to remain uncertain and unstable across our geographies, with soft and volatile volumes and no full recovery, even if interest rates could stabilise. More than ever, we will remain responsive on a month-per-month, country-by-country and product-by-product basis to navigate this unpredictability. On the other hand, we are confident in the mid- to long-term perspectives of Etex and the intrinsic sustainable value of our products and solutions to answer the needs in renovation and new construction for our customers. This is why we will remain on the lookout in 2024 for new strategic opportunities and will continue to invest and prepare for further growth. Overall, we expect continued strong REBITDA margin in 2024.
As a final thought, we want to emphasise that industry players of sustainable construction like Etex are part of the solution to meet the goals set in the Paris Agreement on climate change through buildings that must become energy efficient. Looking at for example the European Union, more than 40% of the energy consumed is used in buildings and more than 30% of energy-related greenhouse gasses emissions come from buildings. Next to new building activities, and according to current high energy standards, renovating old building stock should hence be a top priority. With our portfolio of building materials such as glass wool and extruded polystyrene insulation, plasterboard, fibre cement boards and fire protection materials, Etex has the solutions to reach the ambitious targets. But in view of the huge challenge, a holistic and effective plan to boost renovation is needed, to finance and simplify the renovation process, in each of the EU countries."