Hello, and welcome to the ForFarmers Half Year Results 2024 analyst call. My name is Laura, and I will be your coordinator for today's event. Please note, this call is being recorded, and for the duration of the call, your lines will be on listen-only mode. However, you will have the opportunity to ask questions at the end of the call. This can be done by pressing star one on your telephone keypad to register your question. If you require assistance at any point, please press star zero and you will be connected to an operator. I will now hand you over to your host, Pieter Wolleswinkel , to begin today's conference. Thank you.
Thank you, and welcome from our Lochem office. We appreciate that you are joining this call in which we will present our first six months results. I'm sitting here with Marloes Roetgering, our new CFO, and Rob Peers, our COO, and the next slide is known to all of you. So if we then go to the agenda, I will start with the presentation of our key events in the first half of this year. After that, we'll move to Marloes, who will present the financial results in more detail, and I'll close off with a view at our 2024 agenda. After that, you will have the opportunity to ask questions. If we look at the first six months of this year, we are satisfied. We see clearly a positive trend.
If we look at the volumes, we have addressed last year that we want to improve our market positions, and it is good to see that in both quarters we have achieved this as a continuation of the second half of 2023. We do see that operational profitability went up significantly, but as a clear remark, the first six months of 2023 were disappointing, so an improvement was clearly necessary. If we look at our 2025 strategy, we have two clear pillars. One is a more local approach, strong local management teams, and we recognize that it is appreciated by our customer base. Secondly, in this period of time, we need to make choices.
We've taken clear decisions, for example, in the sale of our Belgian compound feed activities in October last year, and we've announced in February of this year that we will divest two locations in the United Kingdom. We have made a deal around those two locations, and we assume that that will be effective as of the fourth quarter of this year. We also want to improve our growth profile, and two clear pillars come out also in our acquisition strategy. We announced last year the Piast acquisition in Poland, and that has been closed early January of this year. We have announced in June of this year the acquisition of Van Triest Veevoeders, a specialized company in shipping co-products from the food companies to the farmers.
And that fits very nicely with our sustainability agenda, but also with the growth profile that we want to have. If we zoom in at the summary of our financial results, we recognize an improvement of the like-for-like volumes, and given the divestment in Poland and the acquisition of Piast, so the divestment in Belgium and the acquisition of Piast in Poland, it is very important to look at our like-for-like results. And we do recognize that the volumes went up with 2% and the compound feed volumes with nearly 1%. And as said before, we are very happy about that result.
If we look at the turnover, we did, we did see a significant decline of 15%, which is logical, given the decline of the commodity prices as we recognized it in the first six months compared to 2023. We do see that the gross profit and the underlying profitability took a massive step up, leading to an underlying net profit of EUR 60 million versus EUR 4 million in 2023. We have given our guidance towards end of 2025, where we want to achieve a ROACE on underlying EBIT of at least 10%. It is good to recognize that we have already achieved that in the first six months of this year, which is a confirmation that we're doing the right things, and we're satisfied that we have achieved that over the past months.
If we then zoom in on the different clusters, we always start with the Netherlands and Belgium. On the right top of the slide, you'll recognize the results per cluster, and obviously in the Netherlands, Belgium cluster, there's a massive impact of the divestment in Belgium. So let's mainly zoom in at our like-for-like results. We also see in the Netherlands that our volume went up 2%. What is good to mention, that we are satisfied with the results in all key species, ruminants, pigs, and poultry. In ruminants, we recognize that the surroundings become more and more complex. That has to do with legislation, but also with market demands. As an example, FrieslandCampina, the milk processor, is paying farmers more and more based on their reduction of the carbon footprint.
It is a new way of working, where we see that with our know-how and advice power, as we have it on farm, we are able to make the difference, and that helps us in gaining more customers. On pigs, we recognize that we're very competitive in our approach at this point in time, and in poultry, our results are, our technical results are very good. So all in all, all have shown a good development in the first six months. We recognize an improvement of the gross profit, and we do see that also in the Netherlands, a local approach where we especially bring our procurement activities close to our sales activities help to get a good gross profit result.
But we also need to realize that the first six months in the Netherlands were weak, given the decline of commodity prices, as an example of fertilizers, as we recognized that last year, which puts quite some margin pressure on. The underlying operating expenses are getting better and better under control. That can be said for the entire ForFarmers group and also for the Netherlands. Two drivers behind that, we have taken steps to reorganize and to lower our employee cost, and we are also supported by the lowering of the energy prices that has have come in in the first six months. All in all, leading to an improvement, a clear improvement over EBIT and EBITDA in 2024.
Important for the Netherlands is the step that we are taking with Van Triest, a family company that sells, at this point in time, approximately 1 million tons of residual flows, co-products, and forage products. The company has 90 employees, and very important, 37 trucks and trailers, as well as a storage and transshipment site in the north of the Netherlands. So that helps to strengthen this business. As ForFarmers, it's not a new business. We do it ourselves under the brand name CirQlar, and we're now bringing that together with Van Triest. Historically, ForFarmers has been more strong in the pig segment and Van Triest stronger in the ruminant segment, so that comes very nicely together.
Van Triest has a very good supply chain setup, so that helps also our business, where we, at this point in time, rely more on third-party partners. And on the other side, our know-how in the sustainability field, how do you create feed concepts around these type of products, is very well developed, so that will help the sell towards the future in an environment where we believe that these products will get more and more traction to lower carbon footprint levels. So it fits our strategy and our focus on circularity. It has a good growth potential, both in the Netherlands as well as in the surrounding countries within Europe. So with that, it helps to get a better growth profile.
We have received clearance from the competition authority, and with that, we are confident to close early September. Then moving to the east, Germany and Poland, we recognize a very strong result in 2023, and we are therefore happy that on an autonomous basis, we were able to continue this path. If you look at the table on the right, you'll clearly recognize the step up due to the acquisition of Piast, and I'll get back to that on the next slide. But let's first zoom in at the organic development, where we do see like for like, that our volumes went up 2%. And so also in this cluster, we have seen an autonomous positive development of our volumes. The profit has improved slightly, and with that, also the results were quite stable.
Obviously, we do see an improvement of depreciation due to the Piast acquisition, and also we have invested in the factories in Poland and Germany to ensure that they are future-proof. So we're satisfied on these results, but we're also satisfied on the steps that we were able to take with regards to the integration of Piast in the first half of 2024. As you can see on the Polish map on the right side of the slide, we have a much better footprint developed due to the acquisition of Piast with 4 factories, so that helps to optimize our feeds and reduce the logistic distances that we have to serve our customers and to get the raw materials in the factories. So that helps to be more efficient and to grow further.
We have merged our procurement departments and are achieving synergies around that, and both companies have a strong profile of high-quality feed programs, and it's great to see bringing that know-how together will help Poland, but will also support our business in the Netherlands, Germany, and the UK, based on the know-how and also the patented feed technologies that Piast has in-house. We have taken this step to ensure we can grow in Poland towards the future, and to take that step up, we need capacity in our factories, and two factories are therefore being upgraded. One in the north, Olesno. Olesno has just been reopened to make. We have invested in it, made it future-proof, and have increased the capacity, and we do want to take the same step in Golancz in the west of Poland. Then moving to the United Kingdom.
2023 was not an easy year in the UK, but we have addressed also with the publication of our annual results, that we believe in the dairy industry in the United Kingdom, and it's good to see that the volumes went up 1.5% overall, mainly driven by the dairy feed that we sold. If we look to pigs and poultry, we recognize a different picture. We do see that the processors move more and more in an integrated model, meaning that they own their own factories and produce their own feeds, and therefore, ForFarmers has less role to play.
We have also seen that again in the lower pig volumes that we sold, and the poultry volumes went up, but from a strategic point of view, it will be difficult, and as said before, also the reason that we want to divest two locations, and we assume that that will be effective in the fourth quarter of this year. All in all, that step is aiming to lower our cost base. We're also lowering our overhead structure in the UK to make sure we are competitive and can grow, especially our dairy business over there. So it's good to see that we moved around our EBIT from negative in the first six months of 2023 to nearly EUR 3 million in the first six months of this year.
And with that, I would like to hand over to Marloes, who will present the results in more detail.
Thank you, Peter. Also, on my side, a very good morning from Lochem. Following on what Peter shared with you, I would like to take you through our financial overview. We look at the results of the first half of 2024, compared to the first six months of 2023. We start with a look at the underlying financial results. These results have been adjusted for incidental items. I will discuss these incidental items separately later in this presentation. As management, we pay close attention to the underlying results because those provide a better insight in the group's business development and financial performance compared to previous periods. On this slide, you can see two delta columns next to the first half year data of 2024 and 2023. The first delta column indicates the percentage development of the reported numbers.
The second delta column has been adjusted for the divestment of the Belgian activities in 2023, the acquisition of Piast in early 2024, and for foreign exchange effects. First, let us look at the volumes. As Peter indicated, we strengthened our market position, which resulted in organic growth of the total volume in all three clusters and in almost all segments. Our selling prices are highly correlated with the value of raw material purchases. We therefore see that the decline in commodity and energy prices resulted in a 15% reduction in revenue. Gross profit increased by 5.4%. This increase is reflected in all clusters. The execution of our strategy clearly contributes to a more effective purchasing and sales approach. Underlying operating expenses increased slightly, like-for-like by 0.5%.
This is partly driven by indexations of wages, largely compensated by SE savings and by lower other production costs, like energy. The underlying overhead costs have also decreased. This leads to an underlying EBIT of EUR 22.7 million for the first half of 2024, compared to EUR 8.6 million over the same period a year ago. Like-for-like, this is an increase of almost 130%, a nice improvement. Underlying depreciation and amortization increased in the first half of 2024 compared to the first half of 2023. This is largely due to the Piast acquisition and increased leases in transport. Underlying EBITDA over the first six months of 2024, therefore, stands at EUR 42.6 million, compared to EUR 26.5 million for the same period last year. All clusters show an increase in underlying EBITDA.
Underlying EBITDA, as a percentage of gross profit, developed from 11.3 in half year 1 2023, to 17.3 for the first half of 2024. The next slide show an explanation of the underlying profit development. We start with the underlying EBIT, as I explained in the previous slide. Underlying finance costs increased slightly as a result of higher interest costs due to an increase in leasing. The underlying income tax amounts to EUR 3.7 million and results in an underlying tax rate of 19.4%. The increase in absolute terms is mainly caused by the improved financial results. This leads to an underlying profit of EUR 16 million and an underlying earnings per share of €0.18. Including incidentals, we arrive at a profit attributable to the shareholders of EUR 4 million over the first half of 2024.
The return on average capital employed, the ROACE, is calculated on a 12-month basis. The ROACE comes in at 10.7 for the first half of 2024. As you know, we set ourselves a target to achieve 10% ROACE by 2025. We're therefore very pleased with our current performance, although we realize that the market in which we operate is volatile. On the following slide, you will find an overview of the alternative performance measures, APMs. These are mainly one off items for which we make adjustments to arrive at underlying figures. During the first half of this year, we incurred EUR 12 million in incidental items. As all of you are aware of, we have a call put option liability regarding our Polish joint venture, Tasomix. 10.5 out of the EUR 12 million APMs is related to this call put option.
The valuation of this put option is recognized in the balance sheet as long-term debt under IFRS. This is a non-cash item. If the value of the business increases, the value of the call/put option will be higher. Due to the acquired Piast's business, we need to recognize the additional value in our books. This is purely an accounting treatment and does not mean that the option will be exercised. In the first half of 2023, with almost EUR 6 million in restructuring costs as a result of a reorganization. These restructuring costs are considerably lower at EUR 600,000 in the first half of this year, and were mainly related to our business in the UK. Next, under business combinations and divestments, we show an amount of EUR 2.4 million over the first half of 2024.
This relates to a positive valuation of balance sheet items for Piast, which we acquired at the beginning of this year. In addition, costs were incurred for M&A activities and divestments. The impairment charge in the first half of 2023 is related to the sale of Belgian operations. Amortization of intangible assets is in line with previous year. Together with the tax effect on the APMs, it brings the total to -EUR 12 million for the first half of 2024. On the next slide, you see an overview of the capital structure. The value of the assets increased to EUR 835 million. The increase in assets is explained by the acquisition of Piast. Shareholders' equity is EUR 10 million lower at the end of December than at the end of December 2023. This is driven by the dividend payment for 2023 that took place in 2024.
The solvency ratio is slightly above 35% for the first half year of 2024, which is an excellent position. Working capital has increased, mainly driven by the acquisition of Piast, and there's also the seasonal impact compared to the full year 2023. If we compare on a six-month basis, we see that the net working capital has decreased. At the end of June last year, working capital amounted to more than EUR 30 million. There has been a slight increase in receivables that have just passed the due date. That is a timing effect and mainly driven by the fact that the last two days of June were weekend days. We do not see a structural deterioration in accounts receivable position. The net debt amounts to EUR 55.7 million, which represents a net debt EBITDA ratio of 0.71.
This is an increase compared to the end of last year, but it should also be noted that Piast's has been paid. Compared to the last year, compared to the last year at the end of June, net debt improved by more than EUR 30 million. The underlying cash flow that led to the movements are explained on the following slide. More than EUR 25 million cash was generated from operational activities. The underlying increase in EBITDA is partly offset by Piast's working capital increase. There was also a positive effect on working capital last year due to falling raw material prices. This year, prices are much more stable, so we don't see that effect. The cash flow from investing activities is more than EUR 30 million negative. The increase versus half year 1 2023 is related to the acquisition of Piast's and Thunderbrook.
Together with the finance activities of -EUR 28.8 million, this results in an increase in net debt of EUR 34.5 million. Net debt position was EUR 21.4 million on January first. If we add the increase of EUR 34.5 million in debt over the past six months, this results in a net debt position of EUR 55.7 million. In summary, we had a good first half of 2024, in which both volume growth has been achieved and strong growth in profitability, partly due to effective cost control. We look with confidence to the second half of 2024. It should be noted that the market in which we operate is and will remain volatile. Our focus is on an excellent execution of our strategy and a smooth and solid integration of our acquisitions.
With this, I would like to hand over again to Peter.
Thank you very much, Marloes, and great to have you on board in our company. With that, I'd like to close off with a look at our agenda 2024. I shared this with you during the publication of our annual results. It's an update where I'll express where we stand. We have a strong focus on our sustainability journey, where we believe that this is the way forward and also a way to create opportunities. We're focusing around the reduction of our carbon footprint, and at this point in time, obviously spending a lot of time on the CSD implementation, where we are on track. We are increasing the level of co-products in animal nutrition as a key part of our circularity strategy.
In the second half of this year, all attention will be done on the integration of Van Triest and CirQlar. We look critically at the protection of our biodiversity, especially what raw materials are we using in our feeds, and at this point in time, spend working on the implementation of the European Deforestation Regulation. We're working on it, yet we know it is a complex supply chain, and it's not all clear at this point in time, for example, with regards to the soy imports. But we do believe that it's an important step forward in the way we look at raw materials in feed within Europe. Our ambition to win market share is still high on the agenda, and I'm very pleased to see that the progress we've made over the past 12 months.
Focus on cost control will still be there. Inflation is still on its way, and the uncertainty, microeconomic, geopolitical, politically, are still there. So we really need to make sure that based on our cost base, we are flexible to move. The UK reorganization will be finalized in the second half of this year, making sure we are ready for the future in the UK. And we're working on the integration at Piast, very well on track, but also Thunderbrook. The horse business that we've acquired in the UK is leading to a growth platform in an important horse market within Europe. And closing off with the remark, we do believe we play an important role in the establishment of strong agri-food chains within the countries that we're active in.
We cannot do that on our own as ForFarmers, but we're actively looking for interaction with all the chain partners. I described the example, how we cooperate with FrieslandCampina. Those type of cooperations are vital for us towards the future. And with that, I'd like to close off and hand over for the opportunity to ask questions.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, as a reminder, if you would like to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone keypad. Thank you. We'll pause for just a moment while waiting for them to queue for questions. Thank you. We will now take our first question from Fernand de Boer of Degroof Petercam. The line is open, please go ahead.
Yes, good morning. A couple of questions on my side. First of all, if you deduct the underlying expenses from your gross profit, then, I arrive at a little bit higher number. So, is there something in this gross profit, which also should be adjusted? That's the first question, and-
Pardon me, the line of Fernand has been disconnected from, from his side locally.
Okay, then we will wait-
We will wait for him. Yes, we will wait for him to dial back in. Meanwhile, if anyone else would like to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone keypad. Thank you.
I think we will connect with Fernand de Boer one-on-one then. I think he's having trouble dialing back in.
Okay. Well, then, there are no further questions coming through. I will now hand it back to Peter for closing remarks. Oh, one moment, please. I see that there's one line coming in. Is it okay for us to wait?
Yeah.
Sure.
Thank you so much. Okay, so Fernand is back in the line. So, once again, Fernand, if you would like to re-queue in, please press star one on your telephone keypad. We'll now open the line for Fernand. Your line is open. Please go ahead.
Yes, good morning. So thank you for taking my questions. I'm not sure what happened, but the line was disconnected. I have two... Three questions. One is on the gross profit minus your underlying expenses. Then I arrive actually at a little bit higher, EUR 1 million higher. So could you tell me, is there some adjustment also in the gross profit line? Then the second one is on Piast. It looks to me that volumes in Q1 were, I think, a little bit below what I expected, but maybe that was hampered by the yeah, the upgrades of the facilities. So could you tell us a little bit about that? And the last one, I remain puzzled on this put option, call and put option.
So you'd rather make the acquisition, you get the full payment in your cash flow, but then you still have, I think, an EUR 11 million charge for the put option liability. So how does that work in accounting? Because I'm not sure how to understand it.
Okay, Fernand, thanks for your question. Marloes, on the first question, you want to respond now or first, take a-
Yeah, very short answer, Fernand. The other operating income is in between. So there's a small deviation. I think that's the answer to your question.
And that, that's more, that was then primarily for Germany, Poland. Because actually it, it is primarily feasible in that segment, that you don't give the other income anymore in the, in the breakdown, so.
Yeah, so if the question is, in what cluster is it? Because you cannot really-
Yeah
... reconcile from the different clusters.
Yeah.
Maybe it's good to take a look, and then we'll get back to you, Fernand.
Yeah, we will come back.
... with that, one, if that's okay for you.
Yeah, no, fine for me.
Then we'll have the Polish questions that I'd like to hand over to Rob. Our first one is on Piast volumes.
Yeah. Yeah, yeah, so thanks for the question. And indeed, you semi answered the first question yourself. So indeed, we have shut down one factory for a while, the factory in the north, as Peter indicated, because we invested into that, into that factory. That had effect on the, on the volumes, in the first half of 2024. So indeed, that is why it's a bit below the 420 that was announced, let's say, on full year pace. That factory has been reopened. We will invest into another factory in Golancz, Peter also explained, which might also have some effect. But overall, we're very satisfied with the integration of Piast and with the development of that business.
And then the third question was on the put option?
Yes. Yeah, yeah. So basically, indeed, so Poland is a 60/40 joint venture between ourselves and local shareholders. There's a call/put option in place, which has agreed potential exercise dates, so no fixed date that it can or should be exercised, but there are potential dates. We consolidate 100% of the results of Poland into our books. That means it's 100%, let's say, in the balance sheet, in the cash flows and everything. And basically, because there is a liability, if the put option is exercised, that we would have to buy the shares, we need to recognize today how much that potentially could mean on the exercise date. And basically, we make assumptions there on when it's...
It could be exercised and also what the value then would be. Because of the acquisition of Piast, the value of that business increased, and basically that also increased the value of the 40% share, and that is now reflected into our books, in the first half of 2024.
But then you actually say that if you take 40% of that, of that EUR 11-12 million, that the part for you, the 60%, is around EUR 16 million, EUR 16 million, which at the end of the day, creating value and looking at the debt you paid for, actually is not that much. Or do I make some wrong calculation very quickly without really thinking about it?
Yeah, so the difficulty here is, without getting too technical, the difficulty here, this is a discounted, of course, because it is something which might happen in the future, which is viewed today, but your basic assumption is correct. Indeed, this is the 40% value of the, of the put option that is valued here. And basically... And it's not only about Piast, that's the majority of the, of the change, yeah, but we have indicated what we have paid for Piast early, this year... So that is the value that, that we have paid, which was partially, in cash, as you could read also in the press release, and partially as a takeover of debt. So that is the way our acquisition of Piast has been structured. Yeah.
But to be clear on that, at this point in time, we are satisfied about in the joint JV structure as we have it. There's a strong local management team and a skin in the game of our partner. So with that, it's not on our agenda to exercise.
From both sides. Not from our side, but also not from the local shareholder side.
... If I look at the minority stake in the balance sheet, it remains very stable. Does that mean that Tasomix is paying all its profits in dividend, or is that profitability is close to zero?
Yeah, so but that is, because we consolidate Tasomix, so that is what is related to all the joint ventures facing in Germany, in the Niederrhein area and Vleuten in the Netherlands, a big company that we have with the family of Vleuten as a joint venture.
Maybe to make it 100% clear, we fully consolidate Piast's on every level, so it's treated as a 100%, ForFarmers company. But because it's not, and because there is the put option, that is why we assume a debt liability, long-term liability, in the case that we should buy the 40%, that is already recognized in the balance sheet.
Yeah, but-
That's the way it would-
If I simply look at the non-controlling interest in your balance sheet, then it was EUR 8.5 at the end of June, EUR 8.9 at the end of December. So it actually goes down, which actually says you it's, it's kind of loss-making or that they have returned quite a lot of dividend to its shareholders. So is at the end of the day, at this moment, then Tasomix, maybe including Piast's bottom line, has been negative then?
I think the non-controlling part is related to HaBeMa in Germany.
No, because that's an associated line. That's okay. We can take this offline.
Yeah, I think we should take it offline. So I think we're looking at different things.
Yeah. Yeah, and related to the other income, Fernand said, that's indeed the cluster Poland, Germany.
Okay.
Like you said. Yep.
Thank you.
Okay. Thanks for the questions.
Thank you. I will now hand it back to Peter once again for closing remarks. Thank you.
Okay, with that, we've come to the end. Thank you very much for your attention and the questions that have been asked. If there are any questions in the coming period, then we'll follow up on the JV discussions with you, Fernand. But if there are other things, please contact Floor, and she can guide you to the ForFarmers organization. With that, I'd like to close off. Thank you all, and wish you a good day.