Kemira Oyj's interim report January-March 2011: Operative EBIT improved notably
Revenue increased 8% to EUR 556.8 million (514.7).
Operative EBIT increased 15% to EUR 44.9 million (39.1) and the margin increased to 8.1% (7.6%).
Profit before tax increased 53% to EUR 48.6 million (31.7).
Earnings per share increased 33% to EUR 0.24 (0.18).
Tikkurila shares were sold on March 31, 2011; proceeds of EUR 97 million were received on April 5, 2011.
Outlook for 2011 remains unchanged from the 2010 year-end report.
Kemira's President and CEO Harri Kerminen:
"2011 started well for Kemira, despite increased pressure from rising raw material prices. Healthy volume demand and sales price increases drove revenue growth and together with continuous efficiency improvements increased Kemira's operative EBIT to a record level in the first quarter. It is really encouraging that our revenue is growing above the industry rates and at the same time we have been able to increase profitability. We are making good progress on implementing the water chemistry strategy and have achieved an 8.1% EBIT margin versus our mid-term target of 10%.
Paper segment reported good revenue growth and continued to improve profitability, reaching 9.0% EBIT margin. Municipal & Industrial segment increased its sales and EBIT margins are stabilizing over the last two quarters and maintained it's EBIT margins at 7.4%. Oil & Mining segment grew revenues 26% and the EBIT margin reached 11.2%. Other segment reported a positive EBIT, which includes another solid quarter in Specialty Chemicals (ChemSolutions).
Kemira opened a new research and development center in São Paulo, Brazil in collaboration with VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland. The new R&D center will broaden our business capability in the entire South America region, where we have operations in Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Chile, and Uruguay. In the global Kemira R&D network, the São Paulo center has the leading role in research programs on biomass utilization, bio-refineries and bioethanol.
Kemira sold its remaining Tikkurila shares, corresponding to 14% of all the Tikkurila shares. Kemira owns a minority stake (39%) in Sachtleben, a major titanium dioxide producer. Sachtleben has performed very well since the beginning of the year and the whole TiO2 industry has benefited from a favorable demand and pricing."
