Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for holding, and welcome to the IMCD event call regarding first half year 2021 results. At this moment, all participants are in listen-only mode. After the presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. I would now like to hand over the conference to Mr. Piet van der Slikke. Please go ahead, sir.
Thank you, operator, and welcome everybody. I'm here with Hans Kooijmans, as always, and together we will answer your questions on our results over the first six months. The strong demand, which we reported after Q1 continued in Q2 to such an extent that our EBITDA grew with 46% over the full six months, and even with 52% on a constant currency basis. cash earnings per share increased to 44%. All regions contributed to this organic growth, and all acquired companies performed in accordance with expectations. We remained active in executing our strategy by acquiring companies in various regions and market segments, and we strengthened our position in Mexico, Colombia, Central America, and China. I want to thank our staff, who delivered a remarkable performance in the difficult circumstances, and we look with optimism to the remainder of the year.
Hans will take you through the first half year numbers, and after that we will answer your questions. So Hans? Go ahead.
Thanks for the introduction. Morning, ladies and gentlemen. I would like to start on page 9 of the presentation, where you will find a summary of the first half-year income statement. As you can see, Forex-adjusted revenue increased 23% and gross profit increased 28% compared to the same period of last year. This 28% gross profit growth was a combination of 9% as a result of the first-time inclusion of acquisitions and 19% organic growth. Gross profit as a percentage of revenue increased 0.9% compared to last year to 24.5%. This increase was a combination of the contribution of newly acquired businesses, product mix effects, changes in local market circumstances, and successful internal gross margin improvement initiatives. Forex-adjusted operating EBITDA and EBITA both increased with 48% and 52% respectively. This increase was a combination of strong organic growth and first-time inclusion of acquisitions.
Operating EBITDA in percentage of revenue increased to 12.3%, and operating EBITA in percentage of revenue increased with 2.2% to 11.5%. The conversion margin, calculated as operating EBITDA in percentage of gross profit, improved substantially to 46.8%. When using EBITDA instead of EBITA as the numerator when calculating the conversion margin, like most of our peers, we would have reported a 50% conversion margin. On the next page 10, you will find gross profit, EBITDA, and conversion margin per operating segment. In EMEA, we report 19% ForEx-adjusted gross profit growth and an operating EBITDA of EUR 93 million versus EUR 70 million last year. The EBITDA margin of 11.6% is 1.4% higher compared to the same period of last year, and most of the EBITDA and growth margin growth in EMEA was organic. In the Americas, we also report double-digit gross profit and operating EBITDA growth, respectively by 18% and 24%.
Operating EBITDA in percentage of revenue improved 0.6% to 10.3%. Like EMEA, most of the growth was organic. In Asia-Pacific, we realized 80% gross profit growth and more than doubled EBITDA. Operating EBITDA in percentage of revenue improved 6.4% to 15.8%. This growth was a combination of substantial organic growth and the first-time inclusion of acquisitions like Signet, a pharma business in India that we acquired end of last year. In all segments, we report substantial improvements in conversion margin compared to the same period of last year. This improvement in conversion margin is the result of substantial organic EBITDA growth, whereby organic growth profit growth more than compensated the own cost growth. Further, the positive impact of the Signet acquisition helped to improve this ratio.
In the last column, all non-operating companies, including the head office in Rotterdam and our regional support offices in Singapore and the U.S., where we report slightly higher costs, mainly as a result of further strengthening of support functions in these offices. On page 11, a summary of the P&L lines between operating EBITDA and net results for the period. A few general remarks. Net finance cost reduced significantly, and I will show a breakdown in a minute. Income tax expenses increased and relate to the countries where we generate taxable income. The tax cash out in the first six months was about EUR 25 million.
Amortization of intangible assets are mainly non-cash cost related to the amortization of supplier relations, distribution rights, and other intangibles. Last but not least, as mentioned already by Piet, on the bottom of this page, you could see a ForEx-adjusted 48% increase in cash earnings per share to EUR 2.43. As promised on page 12, a specification of the net finance cost where we report a decrease of EUR 7.3 million compared to the first half of last year. Main driver of this decrease is EUR 1.8 million positive currency exchange results this year, compared to EUR 3.2 million cost last year, reducing overall finance cost to EUR 5 million. Further interest cost of our loan structure were EUR 1.6 million lower than the same period of last year. On page 13, a summary of our balance sheet.
Property, plant and equipment of EUR 96 million is a combination of a limited amount of fixed assets that we own ourselves and more than EUR 70 million right of use assets. In other words, capitalized operational leases as a result of the application of IFRS 16. The combination of intangible assets on the one hand and related deferred tax liabilities are a result of acquisitions done since July 2014, and our history as private equity-owned company. On the financing side, there is EUR 870 million of debt and EUR 1.3 billion of equity. This substantial equity position covers about 62% of our capital employed. The leverage ratio end of June, based on our loan documentation, was 1.6 times EBITDA, which was well below the maximum set in our loan documentation. Reported leverage based on IFRS was 2.6 times EBITDA.
Differences in definitions of what is real debt between IFRS and the loan documentation are the main reason for the difference in these two leverage ratios. Working capital at the end of June is summarized on the next page, where you will find a summary of the absolute amounts of the various working capital components and these absolute amounts translated in days of revenue. As you can see, the absolute amount of working capital end of June increased with EUR 84 million compared to year-end 2020. This increase is a combination of additional working capital due to the increased business activities, working capital that we added as a result of acquisitions in the first half of 2020, and currency changes on working capital positions. Compared to last year June, the overall working capital days improved and decreased four days from 60 to 56.
I would like to finish this short summary with a cash flow overview on page 15. Free cash flow and cash conversion ratio were both substantially higher than the same period last year as a result of increased operating EBITDA. Combined, that more than offset the higher working capital investment as a result of the increased business activities. CapEx was about EUR 2 million lower than last year. I assume that you all read our outlook on page 17, the outlook in the press release in which we expressed our expectation of EBITDA growth in 2021. I would like to hand over to the operator to open the lines for Q&A.
Thank you, sir. Ladies and gentlemen, we will start the question and answer session now. If you have a question or remark, please press star one on your telephone. Star one for questions or remarks. Please go ahead. The first question is coming from Rajesh Kumar, HSBC. I am going to connect you. Please hold the line, sir. Your line is open now.
Morning. First of all, when you look at your financial gearing, it is now at 1.6x , as per the loan document. This is lower than your typical range. Clearly, there are opportunities in the market. Could you update us on how you are thinking about your acquisition pipeline? How are you seeing the valuation trend in that area? The second question is, obviously on the performance you have done really strongly. A lot of people are worrying that chemical prices have been a tailwind. Could you help us understand how much of it was cross-selling new products in different geographies versus pass-through of higher freight cost and pricing season? Which of those will reverse in the second half? When we are looking at our forecast, what are things we need to be cautious on? Thank you.
Yes. Thank you very much, Rajesh. On your first question, acquisition pipeline. Basically, what we always say is that we continue to acquire businesses that fit into the strategy. It's clear that also in this time, we have been able to do that. Although, of course, it would help if we could travel again. We're very positive nevertheless about the possibility to acquire companies also in the future. I'm not sure if you want to say anything on the gearing, Hans. No, I think the conclusion is right, that the 1.6, according to the loan documentation, is low compared to what we reported in the past. On the other hand, I think the market also looks at the IFRS leverage to 2.6x . We all should realize that in that leverage, there's, for instance, also earn-out obligations.
There is the debt related to the operational leases that we have to put on the balance sheet. The 1.6 should be more relevant. We now have doubts if the market sees it the same way. But there is plenty of potential upside to do M&A there. On your second question, volume, price, cross-selling. Yeah, that's of course, a mix. We're not going to totally try to dissolve this mix or analyze this mix. It's clear that the current results is the sum of all three. There's significant volume growth, significant price increase, and of course, we always are trying to cross-fertilize our business in terms of bringing new product lines of existing suppliers or new suppliers to new regions. That remains a very positive trend. As to how, let's say, volume growth and price growth will continue, yeah, nobody knows.
For the time being, for the rest of the remainder of the year, we remain positive. It's a combination of the three of these factors. For us, of course, it's very important to continue to develop our business in the different market segments and to add product lines to offer a complementary product range. I think what helps us is if we enter new territories, for example, or now in Central America, that we are able to also use our supplier relationships to bring new product lines to these regions or to take them over from the competition. It's about strongly executing our model, stay close to suppliers and customers, and, of course, being able to also pass price increases to the market. I would summarize it in this way, Rajesh.
Understood. Thank you.
The next question is coming from Matthew Yates, Bank of America. Please go ahead, sir. Mr. Yates, please go ahead.
Hey. Good morning, everyone. Just to follow up on one of the prior questions around the margin development we saw sequentially, maybe just leaving Asia to one side, given the Signet deal. Very strong margin expansion in Europe and the U.S. I was listening to the Univar call yesterday, and they did call out a few things that maybe weren't so sustainable for the rest of the year, given the market tightness. Is there anything that you're seeing that would give reason not to necessarily extrapolate this sort of profitability that you delivered in Q2, I guess, particularly given there is some seasonality to your business? Thank you.
Yeah, I would say that as far as the margin percentage is concerned, that there is, let's say, seasonality. It is clear that our margin percentage fluctuates. It depends on the mix, depends on certain aspects in the market. That could fluctuate also in the future, as it has done in the past. How and when is very difficult to predict. As you know, we are in specialties, so I'm not totally sure if we can compare ourselves in that respect to Univar, which is, of course, a little bit more skewed to commodity. Our margins are relatively stable, but with this fluctuation element in it. I can't promise that they will stay forever at this level or may go higher, may go a bit lower.
We are, of course, a very margin-focused organization, and we are constantly also working on improving them by offering our services, by being relevant to our customers. Let's see if we can sustain them.
Can I ask a follow-up question around pricing? Forgive me for coming down what I know is a very complex and diverse portfolio. Can you just explain to me your approach to pricing? I was under the impression that a lot of your supply contracts have fixed annual pricing. How much flexibility or frequency do you review the price you are in turn charging to your customers to capture that market tightness?
Yeah. I think we do not have contracts with fixed prices. Our suppliers determine, let's say, their price to us on a regular basis, and that differs from supplier to supplier. They are free, in most cases, to change their pricing to us. Of course, that depends from their view on competitiveness, on, let's say, on their cost prices, et cetera. That is something that we need to be very alert on, because most of the time, of course, these prices go up. We need to then execute price increases also to the market. Yeah. That is, of course, something that we, I would say, work very hard on, how to execute that, because that is not always easy and it is also complicated sometimes, also IT-wise. We've done that well.
Let's say our ability to price the products in the right way in the market, also anticipating on what our suppliers are doing, should be one of our core competencies.
In a very inflationary environment, do you have positive inventory revaluation gains going through your numbers?
Well, that could be a bit, but basically, Matthew, we don't take speculative positions, so we often buy on the basis of expected demand from our customers. That means that we hardly have very big positions in, for instance, a specific grade of strawberry flavor, because we expect the customer will buy. If you do more than 50,000 different products, it will be a very different and difficult game to play. There could be something in it.
Thank you, Guys.
The next question is coming from Chetan Udeshi, JP Morgan. Please go ahead, sir. Mr. Udeshi, please go ahead.
Yeah. Hi. Sorry. I was on mute. I just had a question on, firstly, can you just talk about what you are seeing in terms of demand trends by different end markets, both from a Q2 point of view and also, if that has changed at all from 2Q to, say, end of 2Q, just in terms of different end markets within Industrial and Life Sciences? That would be useful. Secondly, it's clear in general, and I don't want to ask specifically on pricing for you guys, but how customers in general do you think are accepting the price increases? Because it's not only price increases that are going up for chemicals. Really, for a lot of other commodities and products, the prices are going up as well.
In your conversation with customers, do you sense any sort of pushback, concern that this could eventually lead to some sort of a demand destruction in the next few quarters?
Yeah. Thank you for these questions. I think on end markets, we can say, if you look at Life Sciences and the Industrial markets that particular demand of Industrial markets has been exceptional and strong. On the Life Sciences, different markets. If you look at, for example, personal care markets, they have come back since last year, when, of course, there were many, many lockdowns, not much flying around. They have come back to a certain level. That's very positive. Food is, of course, a more stable growing market, very nicely growing, but more stable. I would say, if you look at the whole spectrum, then the growth in the Industrial markets in this quarter and this half year has been very significant. I think that concurs with what we read about chemical industry reports from chemical producing manufacturing companies.
As to accepting price increases, that of course is differentiate. Nobody likes to receive price increase. It depends on competition. Let's say there's an element, of course, also of restocking. There's an element of people really wanting to have the products or needing the products. What we should do is to be reasonable. We have to explain it, why. We are in this, of course, for the long term with our customers and our suppliers, and this is not a game of just doing it quickly. We need to explain it to our customers, and then most of the time we can. I would summarize it like this. Thank you.
The next question is coming from Quirijn Mulder, ING . Please go ahead, sir.
Yeah. Quirijn Mulder from ING.
Of course you switch.
No, that's right. Okay, fine. Good morning, everyone. On ING. Question on Signet. Maybe can you give me an idea about the organic growth of Signet in the last year? Maybe you can give me some flavor on that. With regard to pharmaceuticals, there is some slowdown, as I remember in the first quarter because of the lack of, let me say the flu, I think. Maybe you can give me an idea about the situation with regard to pharmaceuticals, especially with regard to the development of Signet.
Yeah. Quirijn, what we don't do is give individual comments on individual companies. I think, let's say the general comments, that Signet performs in accordance with our expectations. Our expectations were, of course, also on the basis of growth. Is as far as we can go. We're very happy with the developments with Signet. I think on your other question, pharma, as you remember, last year, and particularly in the first six months, pharma, of course, had strong growth figures. That leveled off a bit. We, of course, now also have strong growth figures, also because of the acquisition. It is true that generally, let's say the initial strong growth has become a bit slower.
One of the factors, and I think we mentioned it last time is, for example, that because of the COVID measures, some other transmittable diseases by shaking hands and hugging, et cetera, like flu, has decreased enormously. That decreased also certain medicines there, which of course, is a factor as well. Also the postponement of certain treatments, et cetera. Pharma is, as you know, very stable business. We're still very happy with what we see in terms of growth, although not as exuberant as last year.
Okay. My second question, final question is about the lockdown impact in the second quarter. Did you still feel that effect, and were there some costs involved, the logistics insurances and all those things?
Yes. Of course, also in the Q2, most people worked, I guess, from home in many places or partly from home. That is, let's say, an additional burden on getting orders out and handling orders. That's why also, very, very grateful for our people and the work they've done. Also, of course, to our IT people that kept the systems going. On the supply chain, and I think that we are not special there because we see that also with many of our colleagues, peers and in other segments of the market, the supply chains are still disturbed. That's an additional burden on our people to get the product at all or in time, and then to get it in time with customers. That's not easy and that remains difficult also during the second quarter. We have to see when that goes back to normal.
Yes, the COVID pandemic has still have, let's say, a negative impact. On costs, yes, of course. Less travel. Compared to last year, I don't think it makes a very big difference. Exhibitions are not taking place yet. Certain positive effects. Compared again to last second quarter, of course, that was also not there. In that sense, a limited effect.
Yeah. In terms of costs, it's a limited impact, but in terms of, let me say, if it gets normalized next year, for example, that could enhance further volume growth, with some higher costs. Is that a correct conclusion?
I'm careful to predict volume or price next year. I think if the situation totally returns here, then we should do a bit more travel again. Hopefully then that results also in new business. We will hang on to our strategy and growth perspective, Quirijn.
Okay. Thank you.
My apologies. Mr. Mulder from ING. The next question is coming from Fernand de Boer, Degroof Petercam, please go ahead.
Yes, good morning. I have one question on the other income line, which seemed to be exceptionally high, in my view. Anything specific to mention there?
Yeah. I think what you will find there is the proceeds of the sale of the Nutri Granulations business in the U.S. That drives the other operating line a bit up.
If I look at, let's say, the adjusted figure, because you gave a non-recurring figure of, I believe, only EUR 1.6 million. That still should leave then quite an amount in that other income, which is then in, let's say, the not adjusted figure. The adjusted figure.
Yeah. To be very specific there, what you can find in the consolidated cash flow statement is a one-off other operating income of EUR 6.2 million positive, and that is mainly related to the sale of the Nutri Granulations business. The number that you refer to is the balance between extraordinary income, so one-off income and one-off cost. The one-off cost then relate to M&A activities, restructurings, and all these type of one-off items.
Okay. Maybe to come back on, let's say, the second half, because expecting a higher EBITA after +52% EBITDA in the first half is, of course, in our view, obvious. If you listen also, I listened yesterday to the call of DSM and on their, let's say, engineering business, they were quite cautious because of all the disruptions. They say, "Okay, there is demand, but we are not sure," and that was actually the end message, "we can deliver." How does that work for you? How can you be sure that you are going to deliver the demand the company needs in the second half?
We can, of course, never be sure. Because of we are one of, let's say, customers, I would say, we don't say that, but distributors of also DSM. We can never be sure. Nevertheless, because of, I think, the wide variety of products that we have, that very often levels out. We are, of course, not dependent on one product range or one product line. That helps a lot. I think the situation will not, as far as I can see, worsen in the second half versus the first half. I hope that it improves a bit. We will see. I don't think that there will be a major difference in the second half versus the first half.
Maybe to come back on the very first question on your, let's say, capital allocation and looking for acquisitions. Could there be a point that you say, apart from acquisition, we are also going to return money? It's been quite easy for you also to raise capital in the past few years. Maybe to put it the other way around and to return more to the shareholders.
No, I think we are not at that point. I'm also not greatly in favor of that. I think that we need to execute our strategy. I think shareholders have benefited from that, and they'll benefit in the future. We have sufficient opportunities to use our cash and our balance sheet. No, I don't think that is in the agenda at all.
Does that also then mean that you are going to look for more bigger acquisitions or for more acquisitions, more smaller ones?
Well, listen, we are looking at acquisitions whether or not they fit into our strategy and whether big or small. As you know, we always have done a number of smaller ones. Let's say, if we have the ability to acquire a bigger one or bigger ones that fit into what we do and we stick to our, let's say, core of specialty chemical and food ingredient distribution, yeah, then we will do that. Let's say we are not. I think when we were listed, we were asked how much are you going to spend on acquisition, and we have not given that number and we don't know it, because what we do is execute our strategy. We do not deviate from that course. So far, I would say it has served us well, and it has served shareholders well.
Indeed. Thank you.
The next question is coming from Henk Veerman, Kempen. Please go ahead, sir.
Hi, good morning, all. I got disconnected for a bit, so I hope I don't repeat any of the other analysts. Three questions from my side. Firstly, on has stocking from clients in the second quarter, is that in anticipation of price increases? Did that have any material effect on the volume growth in the second quarter? The second question is on shortages, I know you've been very diversified across products and across markets, but I'm wondering if that has been sort of a bigger theme as the quarter and a half year proceeded, and if that could have any effect on the remainder of the year. The third question is on, I think you already commented briefly on continued travel restrictions.
Do these travel restrictions and also in combination with, let's say, very strong markets, does that make it more difficult to engage with potential acquisitions, potential targets?
Yeah. Thank you for the questions. I think restocking effect, certainly that has played a role. I guess also in combination with, I would imagine, and what we also sometimes hear from customers, let's say the fear of shortages, of course, also triggers them ordering, and maybe ordering a bit more than necessary. I think I answered the question on shortages. I don't want to repeat myself again. On travel restrictions, sorry. Certainly has an effect. I think, fortunately, travel in Europe is more or less possible. Travel overseas is still very difficult, if not impossible. That has, I think for all of us in business, a negative effect because we need to see our people. You can do a lot through the screen, but not everything. To meet new people and to connect, you need to see people face to face.
Certainly that has an effect. On the other side, the world adapts quickly. Also, the connection through the screens is more easy than maybe before the pandemic. We all would love, and I think I speak for everybody, would love to see the world reopening again and have more opportunity to speak to people. A lot can be done on the screen. We want to travel again, nevertheless. Let's hope that that is in the cards in the next 6 months to 12 months.
Okay. Thank you.
Ladies and gentlemen, if there are any additional questions or remarks, please press star 1. There is a follow-up question coming from Mr. Rajesh Kumar, HSBC. Please go ahead.
Good morning. Sorry I couldn't resist. Just when you are looking out next year, or second half of this year, obviously healthcare Life Sciences, that segment has been reasonably strong and has continued to be strong as we get the recovery in industrial, but also, there's a supply shortage which has sort of given a pricing tailwind. Should we think of it like you are at the sweetest spot and what we see is a bit of tapering of growth in healthcare, Life Sciences exposure while a bit more coming from the industrials in the second half?
I'm not totally sure if I get your question. No, I don't really get it. Life Sciences were quite strong last year, and we had a cyclical impact from industrials. We are at that point where both Life Sciences and industrials are kicking quite strongly.
Should we expect second half to be more of an industrial-skewed quote rather than?
Well, what I said about the first six months is that industrial has shown very significant growth, and I think that you see that also with manufacturers, yesterday DSM.
Yeah.
I think that that will probably continue. At the same time, if you look at Life Sciences, and they are of course not all the same, and what I said about personal care, that had a very difficult year last year because of the pandemic, and that's coming back. It's a bit a mixed picture. Let's see how long the growth of industrial is continuing. Overall, we see for both bigger segments, a very positive development also for the second half.
Got it. Thank you very much.
There are no further questions. Please continue, sir.
Well, I would say to everybody, enjoy the summer, like we do, and enjoy your holiday if you have. I look forward to speak to you after Q3. Thank you very much.
Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes this IMCD event call. You may now disconnect your line. Thank you very much.