July 27, 2022 01:30 ET | Source: VALLOUREC VALLOUREC
Second Quarter and First Half 2022 results
2022 EBITDA expected between €650 to €750 million, significantly above 2021 ‘New Vallourec’ plan on track to generate additional €230 million of recurring EBITDA
‘New Vallourec’ transformation plan on track to generate additional €230 million of recurring EBITDA by Q1 2024
Philippe Guillemot, Chairman of the Board of Directors and Chief Executive Officer, declared: “Robust Second Quarter results were fully in line with our expectations. Our tube business continues to operate in a highly favorable environment, particularly in North America. Our iron ore mine has reopened but is still operating below typical production levels, and this situation is now assumed to continue for the remainder of the year. Nevertheless, at this stage in the year, we are confident in quantifying our EBITDA outlook for FY 2022, with an expected performance between €650 to €750 million. Adjusted for the normal operation of the mine, EBITDA would have been approximately €1.0 billion. Free Cash Flow in the Second Quarter remained in negative territory, reflecting temporary investments in inventories to satisfy strong business demand. It will be positive in the Second Half as working capital stabilizes at current levels.
We continue to progress our ‘New Vallourec’ transformation plan, with the plant closure process launched in Germany and other European reorganization measures underway. Furthermore, I am delighted to welcome new leaders to the Executive Committee to complete the team which will drive the transformation of Vallourec.”
In the Second Quarter of 2022, Vallourec recorded revenues of €1,144 million, up 36% year-on-year and up 22% at constant exchange rates reflecting:
For the First Half, revenues totaled €2,060 million, up 33% year-on-year and by 22% at constant exchange rates on the back of:
Oil & Gas, Petrochemicals (68% of Q2 2022 consolidated revenue)
In Q2 2022, Oil & Gas revenues amounted to €679 million, a 55% increase year-on-year and up 39% at constant exchange rates.
For the First Half, Oil & Gas revenues totaled €1,231 million, a €430 million increase or 54% year-on-year (+40% at constant exchange rates), mainly thanks to North America and, to a lesser extent, EA-MEA.
In Q2 2022, Petrochemicals revenues stood at €102 million, a significant increase of 153% year-on-year (+124% at constant exchange rates) notably due to better prices and increased volumes, mainly in North America.
For the First Half, Petrochemicals revenues doubled year-on-year to reach €172 million, (+80% at constant exchange rates).
In Q2 2022 revenues for Oil & Gas and Petrochemicals amounted to €781 million, up 63% year-on-year (+46% at constant exchange rates).
For the First Half revenues for Oil & Gas and Petrochemicals totaled €1,403 million, up 58% compared with H1 2021 (+44% at constant exchange rates).
Industry & Other (28% of Q2 2022 consolidated revenue)
In Q2 2022, Industry & Other revenues amounted to €323 million, slightly decreasing by 3% year-on-year (down 12% at constant exchange rates):
For the First Half, Industry & Other revenues totaled €585 million, stable year-on-year and down 8% at constant exchange rates; better prices in engineering and, to a lesser extent, in automotive, were insufficient to offset the impact of the mine shutdown.
Power Generation (4% of Q2 2022 consolidated revenue)
In Q2 2022, Power Generation revenues amounted to €40 million, up 29% year-on-year and by 18% at constant exchange rates.
For the First Half 2022, revenues totaled €72 million, up 7% year-on-year and down by 3% at constant exchange rates.
In Q2 2022, EBITDA amounted to €160 million compared with €148 million in Q2 2021; the EBITDA margin stood at 14.0% of revenue versus 17.6% in Q2 2021, reflecting:
Adjusted for the regular operation of the iron ore mine and actual iron ore prices for Q2 2022, the normalized level of EBITDA would have been approximately €240 million.
Operating income was negative at €(358) million, compared to a positive €200 million in Q2 2021, resulting mainly from the provisions related to the adaptation measures (European social plans and associated fees) and, to a lesser extent, provisions for non-recurring costs related to the incident at the mine. Moreover, Q2 2021 included a positive one-off €70m gain related to the Reisholz land and building sale.
Financial income was negative at €(8) million, compared with €(93) million in Q2 2021; net interest expenses in Q2 2022 at €(22) million, and reflecting the new balance sheet structure, were partially offset by ‘other financial income’.
Income tax was reduced to €(48) million compared to €(60) million in Q2 2021, reflecting lower earnings from the mine and a recovery in activity in North America.
This resulted in negative net income, Group share, of €(415) million, compared to a positive €51 million in Q2 2021.
In H1 2022, EBITDA amounted to €205 million, a €23 million decrease year-on-year, to stand at 10.0% of revenue, reflecting:
Adjusted for the regular operation of the iron ore mine and actual iron ore prices for H1 2022, the normalized level of EBITDA would have been approximately €370 million.
Operating income was negative at €(375) million compared with a positive €227 million in H1 2021, resulting mainly from the provisions related to the adaptation measures (European social plans and associated fees) and, to a lesser extent, provisions for non-recurring costs related to the incident at the mine (H1 2021 was positively impacted by a non-recurring €70m gain related to the above-mentioned real estate asset disposals).
Financial income was negative at €(21) million, compared with €(175) million in H1 2021; net interest expenses in H1 2022 at €(45) million reflecting the new balance sheet structure, were partially offset by other financial income.
Income tax amounted to €(51) million mainly related to Brazil and North America.
As a result, net income, Group share, amounted to €(450) million, compared to €(42) million in H1 2021.
CASH FLOW & FINANCIAL POSITION
Cash flow from operating activities In Q2 2022, cash flow from operating activities improved to €41 million, compared to €(15) million in Q2 2021; It included cash-out related to the adaptation measures of €22 million, lower income tax paid, as well as lower financial expenses.
H1 cash flow from operating activities was positive at €61 million compared to €(2) million in H1 2021. The improvement was related to lower income tax and adaptation measures cash-out, as well as reduced financial expenses.
Operating working capital requirement In Q2 2022, the operating working capital requirement increased by €(187) million, versus an increase of €(92) million in Q2 2021, reflecting higher forward volume expectations and raw-material price increases. The net working capital requirement stood at 117 days of sales, compared to 101 days in Q2 2021.
For H1 2022, the operating working capital requirement increased by €(403) million versus an increase of €(139) million in H1 2021.
Capex Capital expenditure was €(25) million in Q2 2022, compared with €(28) million in Q2 2021, and €(59) million in H1 2022 compared to €(56) million in H1 2021.
For the full year it is expected to be slightly above €200 million.
Free cash flow As a result, in Q2 2022, free cash flow was negative at €(171) million versus €(135) million in Q2 2021.
Free cash flow for H1 2022 was negative €(401) million after €403 million working capital build in H1, compared with €(197) million in H1 2021.
For the Second Half of 2022 free cash flow is expected to be positive.
Asset disposals & other items In Q2 2022, asset disposals & other items amounted to €(5) million compared with €1,780 million in Q2 2021. This included the recognition of the financial restructuring, the cash-in from the Reisholz building and land disposal for €71 million and from the Valinox Nucléaire SAS disposal for €12 million.
For H1 2022, they amounted to €(30) million.
Net debt and liquidity As of June 30, 2022, net debt stood at €1,389 million, compared with €1,213 million at March 31, 2022. As of June 30, 2022, gross debt amounted to €1,754 million including €81 million of fair value adjustment under IFRS 9 (which will be reversed over the life of the debt). Long-term debt amounted to €1,379 million and short-term debt totaled €375 million.
Net debt at year-end 2022 is projected below the level of end-June thanks to positive free cash flow.
As of June 30, 2022, lease debt stood at €61 million following the application of IFRS 5 standards, compared with €50 million on March 31, 2022.
The liquidity position was strong at €752 million, with cash amounting to €365 million and an undrawn committed Revolving Credit Facility of €387 million.
UPDATE ON PAU BRANCO MINE
On January 8, 2022, following exceptionally heavy rainfall in Minas Gerais State (Brazil), some material from the waste pile associated with the operations of Vallourec’s Pau Branco mine slid into a rainwater dam (the Lisa Dam) causing it to overflow resulting in the interruption of traffic on a nearby highway. There were no casualties and the structure of the dam was not affected. As a result of this incident, however, the operations of the mine were temporarily suspended.
On May 4, 2022, Vallourec partially restarted operations, using an alternative waste pile. Under these conditions, volumes extracted in H1 2022 amounted to approximately 1.1 million tonnes.
In the Full Year 2022, Vallourec now assumes an annual production of 2.6 million tonnes, which informs its EBITDA outlook.
Meanwhile, Vallourec continues discussions with the authorities regarding the use of other alternative waste piles to continue production. The Group is also working as fast as possible on additional safeguarding measures including drainage system reinforcement and the stabilization of the soft soil layers, in order to resume normal operations using the original waste pile, subject to the validation by the state mining and environmental authorities. Those normal operations are expected not before Q2 2023 following the full release of the Cachoeirinha Pile.
Foundations of the New Vallourec
In May 2022, Vallourec announced the initiation of the closure process of its German tube plants and the transfer of the German rolling activity for Oil & Gas to Brazil. This process will take place over the next two years and will include the sale of land and buildings. The transfer will require approximately €120 million of capex in the Brazil operations to support the transition of premium tubular volume from Europe by end 2023.
The closure of the German operations implies further rationalization of other European operations involved in the finishing of tubes rolled in Germany. This rationalization will entail the consolidation of all the European threading activities in a single location in Aulnoye, France. The Group has also launched the closure processes of the heat treatment line at Saint-Saulve (France) and the threading line at Bellshill (Scotland). Elsewhere, Vallourec completed the sale of Vallourec Bearing Tubes. The Aulnoye Competence Center will lead the ‘one R&D’ organization.
Streamline overheads to lower breakeven and increase efficiency
Vallourec will simplify its organization by streamlining its structure in all regions (North America, South America and Eastern Hemisphere) and by further downsizing the headquarter functions, which will be primarily focused on strategy and expertise.
The Group will also benefit from higher productivity by implementing automation for all transactional processes and consolidating support functions in larger, Shared Services Centers, to leverage the Company’s scale.
Finally, support functions will be located close to production sites and the Group will focus on value-creating projects.
These combined initiatives will lead to €230 million of recurring EBITDA and €250 million in ongoing cash up-lift. The execution is expected to be finalized at end of Q1 2024. The associated headcount reduction3 should be approximately 2,950.
The implementation of these measures is subject to consultation of the competent employee representative bodies.
The indicative profile for the ‘one-off’ cash flows of this project shows that the bulk of the cash outflows (severance and other one-off costs) are concentrated at the beginning of 2024, while the main cash inflows (sale of land, buildings, working capital and other) are expected in the early part 2023. Consequently, the restructuring is not expected to impair liquidity.
Further reinforcement of Executive Committee
Following the nomination in May of Ulrika Wising as Senior Vice President Energy Transition, Vallourec has made four further senior appointments to reinforce the Executive Committee tasked with executing the ‘New Vallourec’ transformation strategy.
Enrico Schiappacasse as Senior Vice President Group Strategy and Development: On June 1, 2022, Vallourec announced the appointment of Enrico Schiappacasse as Senior Vice President Group Strategy and Development. He took office on June 1, 2022. Enrico was previously Vice President of the Oil and Gas Business Unit at Prysmian Group, world leader in the energy and telecom cable systems industry.
Nathalie Joannes as General Counsel: On July 1, 2022, Vallourec announced the appointment of Nathalie Joannes as General Counsel for the Group. Prior to joining Vallourec, Nathalie was Executive Vice President Legal and Compliance & General Counsel at LEO Pharma. Nathalie has successfully built international legal, risk management and compliance teams in listed and private companies worldwide. She has been a member of the New York Bar since 1987.
Ludovic Oster as Chief Human Resources Officer: On July 1, 2022, Vallourec announced the appointment of Ludovic Oster as Chief Human Resources Officer. Since August 2018, he has been Chief Human Resources Officer at Elior Group where he contributed to the implementation of the group's strategy, particularly through the alignment and commitment of teams, the development of human resources and organizational efficiency.
Pierre d'Archemont as Senior Vice President South America: On July 8, 2022, Vallourec announced the appointment of Pierre d'Archemont as Senior Vice President South America. He took up his position on July 14, 2022. He occupied the position of Regional VP Brazil and Argentina in charge of the operational and financial turnaround of Visteon since 2014.
New Vallourec industrial footprint in 2024
Vallourec’s new industrial footprint is designed to support its value-over-volume strategy through a reduction of approximately 700,000 tonnes of unprofitable capacity in Europe and a focus on low-cost production regions with a significantly reduced carbon footprint.
Following the completion of the reshaping of its industrial footprint, Vallourec industrial footprint will consist of:
In North America, the highly favorable market conditions should continue into H2 2022, in both price and volume terms. Market very tight in terms of available supply. In EA-MEA, volumes expected to continue to recover modestly in the coming quarters; cost increases will be passed onto customers. In South America, volumes are expected to increase leading to margin improvement throughout the year.
Industry & Other In Europe, the outlook for volumes is neutral in a softer market; price increases are expected to fully offset cost inflation. In Brazil, the outlook for volumes is neutral relative to currently elevated levels, with price increases fully offsetting cost inflation. Vallourec has partially restarted the mining operations. Assumptions for H2 2022 assume production of approximately 1.5 million tonnes, bringing the total for the year to 2.6 million tonnes. H2 2022 consensus estimates for iron ore average prices stand at approximately US$120 per tonne4.
Based on these market trends and assumptions we are quantifying our EBITDA outlook for FY 2022 which is now expected in a range of €650 to €750 million. On a normalized basis (for full production at the iron ore mine) EBITDA would have been estimated at approximately €1 billion5.
Other Capex is expected to be slightly above €200 million, including approximately €50 million for the preparation of the transfer of operations from Germany to Brazil. Information and Forward-Looking Statements
This press release may include forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology, including the terms as “believe”, “expect”, “anticipate”, “may”, “assume”, “plan”, “intend”, “will”, “should”, “estimate”, “risk” and or, in each case, their negative, or other variations or comparable terminology. These forward-looking statements include all matters that are not historical facts and include statements regarding the Company’s intentions, beliefs or current expectations concerning, among other things, Vallourec’s results of operations, financial condition, liquidity, prospects, growth, strategies and the industries in which they operate. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties because they relate to events and depend on circumstances that may or may not occur in the future. These risks include those developed or identified in the public documents filed by Vallourec with the French Financial Markets Authority (Autorité des marches financiers, or “AMF”), including those listed in the “Risk Factors” section of the Registration Document filed with the AMF on April 19, 2022, under filing number n° D.22-0305. Readers are cautioned that forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and that Vallourec’s or any of its affiliates’ actual results of operations, financial condition and liquidity, and the development of the industries in which they operate may differ materially from those made in or suggested by the forward-looking statements contained in this press release. In addition, even if Vallourec’s or any of its affiliates’ results of operations, financial condition and liquidity, and the development of the industries in which they operate are consistent with the forward-looking statements contained in this press release, those results or developments may not be indicative of results or developments in subsequent periods.
Conference call / audio webcast on Wednesday, July 27th at 9:00 am CET
https://channel.royalcast.com/landingpage/vallourec-en/20220727_4/
https://www.vallourec.com/en/investors
Vallourec is a world leader in premium tubular solutions for the energy markets and for demanding industrial applications such as oil & gas wells in harsh environments, new generation power plants, challenging architectural projects, and high-performance mechanical equipment. Vallourec’s pioneering spirit and cutting edge R&D open new technological frontiers. With close to 17,000 dedicated and passionate employees in more than 20 countries, Vallourec works hand-in-hand with its customers to offer more than just tubes: Vallourec delivers innovative, safe, competitive and smart tubular solutions, to make every project possible.
Listed on Euronext in Paris (ISIN code: FR0013506730, Ticker VK), Vallourec is part of the CAC Mid 60, SBF 120 and Next 150 indices and is eligible for Deferred Settlement Service. In the United States, Vallourec has established a sponsored Level 1 American Depositary Receipt (ADR) program (ISIN code: US92023R4074, Ticker: VLOWY). Parity between ADR and a Vallourec ordinary share has been set at 5:1.
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Due to rounding, numbers presented throughout this and other documents may not add up precisely to the totals provided and percentages may not precisely reflect the absolute figures.
Definitions of non-GAAP financial data
Data at constant exchange rates: the data presented « at constant exchange rates » is calculated by eliminating the translation effect into euros for the revenue of the Group’s entities whose functional currency is not the euro. The translation effect is eliminated by applying Year N-1 exchange rates to Year N revenue of the contemplated entities.
Free cash flow: Free cash-flow (FCF) is defined as cash flow from operating activities minus gross capital expenditure and plus/minus change in operating working capital requirement.
Gross capital expenditure: gross capital expenditure is defined as the sum of cash outflows for acquisitions of property, plant and equipment and intangible assets and cash outflows for acquisitions of biological assets.
Industrial margin: the industrial margin is defined as the difference between revenue and cost of sales (i.e. after allocation of industrial variable costs and industrial fixed costs), before depreciation.
Lease debt: defined as the present value of unavoidable future lease payments
Net debt: consolidated net debt is defined as Bank loans and other borrowings plus Overdrafts and other short-term borrowings minus Cash and cash equivalents. Net debt excludes lease debt.
Net working capital requirement: defined as working capital requirement net of provisions for inventories and trade receivables; net working capital requirement days are computed on an annualized quarterly sales basis.
Operating working capital requirement: includes working capital requirement as well as other receivables and payables.
Working capital requirement: defined as trade receivables plus inventories minus trade payables (excluding provisions).
1 Normalized EBITDA means adjusted for the mine at full production and actual iron ore prices for Q2 2022 2 Normalized EBITDA means adjusted for the mine at full production (8.7 million tonnes) and either actual iron ore prices for H1 2022 or consensus prices for H2 2022 3 Refers to permanent employees 4 Capital IQ: ~$120 per tonne in H2 2022. 5 Normalized EBITDA means adjusted for the mine at full production (8.7 million tonnes) and either actual iron ore prices for H1 2022 or consensus prices for H2 2022.