I now have the conference over to Ana Canha. Please go ahead.
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Navigator Company conference call and webcast for the second quarter and first half results. Joining us today are the following directors: António Redondo, Fernando Araújo, Nuno Santos, João Lé, Dorival Almeida, and António Quirino Soares. As usual, we will start with a brief presentation, and we will have the Q&A session at the end. The presentation can be accessed through the links available on the website, and questions may be addressed also through the webcast platform. António will start commenting on the main highlights for the quarter. I will now hand over to António.
Thank you, Ana. Good afternoon, and thank you all for joining us today. I'm very honored to be here once again and to share with you our second quarter and first half results. As we will see in today's presentation, Navigator has shown once again a unique competitive position in Europe in terms of the efficiency in which it manages its business mix and within each business its marketing mix. It has consistently shown flexibility in adapting to different market dynamics, focusing on results and protecting margins, as once again was the case this quarter. I will start with slide four for a global overview of the year.
The first half of 2024 got off to a very positive start, marked by an all-time high in the pulp reference price and a positive trend in the paper reference price with improved paper and pulp demand across all segments: printing and writing, packaging, and tissue. Navigator ended this first half of the year with a total turnover of EUR 1,066 million, up 9% year-on-year. EBITDA stood at EUR 299 million, with a strong EBITDA margin of 28%, enabled by enrichment of the product mix, an efficient commercial strategy focused on price and marketing mix, and managed a significant reduction in cash costs. Regarding cash costs, we again recorded a reduction year-on-year in all segments from 6%-14%.
While staying focused on our diversification plan, during the second quarter, Navigator successfully completed the acquisition of Accrol, a leading player in the UK tissue market, fourth in the ranking. We are also continuing to focus on diversifying our packaging business. We have continued to enlarge our customer base through existing and new paper application techniques, as well as with innovative integrated production units for molded eucalyptus pulp products intended to replace single-use plastic packaging in the food service and food packaging markets. The commissioning of the mill site already started, and the commercial production is planned to start in the later part of this quarter.
Net debt stood at EUR 665 million at the end of June, impacted by significant outflows from acquisition of Accrol by distribution of EUR 150 million in dividends and a higher level of CapEx, as previously anticipated. Even so, the Net Debt-to-EBITDA ratio stood at 1.2, further consolidating the financial strength displayed by the group. In a very significant development this month of July, the annual assessment by the Sustainalytics, the sustainability rating agency, once again rated Navigator as a low-risk company for investment.
Actually, Navigator was evaluated as the number one in the world on 85 global paper and forest companies evaluated, topping the list of companies with the lowest ESG risk, more precisely on the lower fringes of the low-risk level, with most issues presenting negligible risks. Fernando will start with the main financial highlight. Fernando, please go ahead.
Thank you, António. Turning to slide 5, as mentioned, EBITDA stood at €299 million, up 18% year-on-year, with an EBITDA margin of 28%. Net profit stood at €159 million, up 16% year-on-year. CapEx totaled €93 million, of which approximately 45% was classified as a value-added sustainability ESG investment, making a positive contribution to reduce future costs. If we turn to slide 6, this quarter we recorded higher sales prices across all segments: pulp, paper, tissue, and packaging. The volume of paper sales was down 10% on the first quarter and up by 23% over the second quarter in 2023. Pulp sales were down 35% quarter-over-quarter and 43% on Q2 2023, in a quarter with less pulp available for the market and maintenance stoppage.
The volume of tissue stood at 56,000 tons, up by 48% quarter-on-quarter and up by 50% on Q2 2023, driven by dynamic demand and the new capacity at Accrol, now called Navigator Tissue UK. The value of sales grew by 51% over the previous quarter and by 41% over the same period in 2023. My colleagues will give more details on the performance of the individual business. Turning to slide seven, we can take a closer look at the main impacts on EBITDA in a year-on-year comparison. Lower market pricing and cut-size uncoated woodfree packaging and tissue more than offset by higher sales volume and decreased cash costs.
When comparing to the same period in 2023, as António mentioned, there was a significant reduction in cash costs of between 6% and 14% in all pulp and paper segments, printing and writing, tissue, and packaging. It should be noted that the first half of the year was marked by restrictions in the Red Sea, which led to changes in maritime transport routes and an overall upward trend in freight rates, more noticeably east to west and North Atlantic. Despite this context, Navigator maintained a downward trend in maritime freight rates, mainly within Europe, Mediterranean, and Africa, and thus saw a reduction in logistical costs in all business segments.
Total fixed costs ended up higher than in the same period last year due to the inclusion of Navigator Tissue Ejea and Navigator Tissue UK units and employee profit sharing, as well as higher redundancy costs and the rejuvenation scheme and non-recurring costs related to the Accrol acquisition. Regarding EBITDA quarter-on-quarter analysis, this second quarter, EBITDA stood at €165 million, up 34% quarter-on-quarter and up 35% on Q2 2023, reflecting an EBITDA margin of 31%.
The quarter-on-quarter improvement is essentially the result of the increase in sales price in all businesses, the reduction in variable production costs, and the fact that we kept fixed costs relatively stable from Q1 from Q2. In addition, there were also gains in the energy business, with a more positive second quarter due to the increase in sales price of electricity and also the impact of two months of operation of tissue in the UK.
Lastly, quarter-on-quarter, there was a positive net effect on the change in production stocks in Q2. In Q1, we sold products produced in 2023, which had a higher production cost than those produced in 2024, while in Q2, all sales were made with the stock produced in the same year, therefore with a lower cost of sales compared to Q1. Quirino will now comment on pulp and paper prices. Quirino, please.
Thank you, Fernando. Moving to slide nine, we see the evolution of pulp and paper prices. The first quarter of 2024 ended with a benchmark index for hardwood pulp, FOEX BHKP in dollars, rising up to $1,440 per ton. Since the start of the year, pulp prices have grown by approximately 41%, and everything suggests they will continue at significantly above average level, at least over the next quarter and until the end of the year. Currently, at $1,440 per ton, this is the highest nominal value ever reached. Prices in China mirrored developments in Europe, reaching $741 per ton at the end of the quarter, up 14% since the start of 2024.
The benchmark index for office paper prices in Europe, FOEX A4 B-copy, ended the quarter at €11-€12 per ton, up by 2% from the start of the year, which was then €93 per ton. Moving to slide 10, we have summarized the main developments in the apparent goods demand. The apparent global demand grew by 1.3% in the first half, which is until May, the available data, across all segments of products, with demand for uncoated woodfree papers lowest up by 1.6%, uncoated woodfree papers growing by 0.6%, while papers with mechanical fiber experienced growth in demand of 1%. In Europe, the apparent demand for uncoated woodfree paper grew by 14.8% over the first half, with the folio segment as the top performing, growing at 20.6%, followed by cut-size office paper up by 14.8%, and reels up by 10.1%.
Navigator recorded an increase in market share in Europe this first half of the year compared to the same period of last year. Capacity utilization rate in the European industry, output divided by capacity, averaged an average 87% in the first half of the year, while Navigator operated at above the industry average at 92%, so 5 percentage points above the average. In the United States, demand declined by 2.6% year to date. Despite the drop in market demand, after a very difficult 2023, Navigator's sales in the U.S. grew again, as did its market share in the market.
The uncoated woodfree consumption in other world regions grew by 0.5% until May, with China recording an impressive 7.1% growth year-on-year, which compares to a 2.9% compound rate from 2019 to 2023. As just mentioned, the benchmark index for office paper prices in Europe recorded a modest increase in the period. Nevertheless, the average sales price in Navigator's paper segment performed strongly.
From November to June, Navigator's uncoated wood-free price increased by around 8%. The increase in Europe was a bit below that average, and the increase outside Europe was higher than the 8% mentioned. It should be noted that the total paper turnover continues at historically high levels. In challenging markets, own brands and high-value segments provide extra protection for Navigator's results. Nuno will give some market context on pulp. Nuno?
Quirino, turning to slide 11. As Quirino just mentioned, the first half of 2024 witnessed a significant and rapid increase in pulp prices. The supply and demand dynamic was decisive for the increase in prices. On the demand side in Europe, the market of end consumers of pulp performed strongly, especially in printing and writing and packaging paper industries, where order books grew substantially in contrast to the same period in 2023. Tissue demand also performed well.
In China, the strong demand for pulp in late 2023 continued into the first half of 2024 due to the new paper capacity installed. On the supply side, logistical restrictions in the Red Sea, as well as pressures on supply in Canada, Finland, Latin America, and Asia due to production and availability, maintenance stoppages, capacity closures, and logistical constraints have sustained the current price levels.
It should be noted, however, that at the end of the first semester, demand for short fiber in China slowed down, and with the constraints observed during the first few months of the year being overcome, the availability of pulp increased, especially in Europe and the Mediterranean. Nevertheless, demand has been strong, and stocks are still below the historical average for the last 5 years. Looking now at tissue performance on slide 12, demand for tissue paper remains strong, up 3.5% in Western Europe year to date. The recovery in household spending power, driven by lower inflation, has yielded positive effects as well, and tourism growth has boosted away-from-home segments.
Navigator recorded first-half tissue sales of 94,000 tons, up 54% year-on-year, as a result of including 2 months of operations by Accrol, now called Navigator Tissue UK, and of Navigator Tissue Ejea in the second quarter of 2023. Sales outside Portugal accounted for 76% of turnover in tissue business in the first half of 2024. The Spanish market took the largest share with 35% of sales, followed by the UK with 20%, and France, which accounted for 18% of sales. Sales broke down into 95% of finished products that have grown 34% year-on-year, and 5% reels growth, a significant mixed improvement. In terms of clients, at-home or consumer business has grown in importance, currently accounting for 81% of sales, while away-from-home and wholesalers account for the remaining 19%.
Navigator's focus on innovation and differentiation continues to be welcomed by clients, with sales of new brands growing by 29% year-on-year in the first half of 2024. A strong contribution to this growth in new brand sales has come from sales of innovative products, which again recorded excellent growth, up 16%. The portfolio of tissue products has benefited significantly from the recent integration of industrial units in the UK and now includes wet wipes, moist toilet tissue, and facials. Dorival will now comment on the main development in packaging.
Thank you, Nuno. Now turning to slide 13. After a promising first quarter, this second quarter confirms the trend for recovery with robust and consistent demand. Segments where we operate grew by 25% year-on-year. Navigator's packaging segment recorded 9% growth in sales volume this half compared to the first half of 2023. In this context, Navigator implemented price increase in all its markets, justified by the rise in production costs and by improved market performance. This strong performance is firmly supported by the move into several new segments, above all in the area of flexible packaging, where the company launched products in the early months of the year and is now seeing more significant sales volumes. The first half of the year also saw a reduction in dependence on the paper bag segment, with the shift towards flexible packaging.
Navigator has continued to broaden its customer base, which already numbers close to 300 clients in a sales operation 100% based on its own brand, g-Kraft. Fernando will comment on our financial position. Thank you, Dorival. On slide 14, the debt maturity profile. Group debt profile remains conservative in the quarter, with significant outflows, as António mentioned. In particular, a EUR 150 million dividend payment, an emergent and acquisition transaction, and strong CapEx. Navigator's debt maturities remain well-balanced debt maturities, with 93% of total debt issued on a fixed rate basis, enabling us to maintain low financial costs in the scenario of sharply rising interest rates.
Also, it's worth mentioning that the company has a sound balance sheet with liquidity close to EUR 530 million in both unused long-term credit lines and cash, in addition to the long-term financial agreement with European Investment Bank of EUR 150 million, which can be drawn in three tranches with maturities of up to 12 years. In the second quarter, new long-term bond issues were contracted worth EUR 300 million in order to maintain an appropriate average debt profile with balanced maturities and linked to sustainability targets. João will give more color on our commitments. I will now hand over to João.
Thank you, Fernando. Turning to slide 15, please. Navigator is committed to carrying on its business while complying with principles and best practices related to environment, society, and governance issues, ESG, and has established this sustainability-linked finance framework to support the financing and/or refinancing of its activities in general through bond issues or loans indexed to sustainability indicators. These sustainability-linked financial instruments are effective tools for securing the funding for its operations and, at the same time, bolster its commitment to sustainable practices. These principles are voluntary guidelines which foster transparency and credibility in the sustainability-linked bond and loan markets.
The sustainability indicators selected for linking to the financial costs of the financial operations relate to the central goals of our sustainability strategy, meaning reduction of CO2 emissions, Scope 1 ETS phases, purchases of certified wood, and consumption of energy from renewable sources. The KPIs are consistent with the sustainability performance targets presented in timelines with annual targets from 2024 to 2030 and consistent with the planning horizon for the company's 2030 agenda. Also, the use of proceeds of the long-term finance available from the European Investment Bank, mentioned by Fernando, is linked to our decarbonization targets through the construction and operation of a high-efficiency recovery boiler at Setúbal Industrial Complex, a key step in the decarbonization roadmap. Turning to slide 16, please.
Sorry. Our commitment to the sustainability of our operations in all dimensions was recognized in July in the annual assessment of the Sustainalytics Rating Agency, which again classified Navigator as a low-risk company for investors, placing us in the first position in the list of companies with the lowest ESG risk in the lower fringes of our low-risk band, with the most material topics presenting only negligible risk.
Navigator was ranked in first place out of a total of 85 global companies in paper and forest industries in this cluster, in first place also in the subgroup of 63 global companies in the pulp and paper cluster, and in the top 5% of more than 16,200 companies worldwide in all business segments. A continuous commitment to improving practices relating to environmental, social, and governance issues has resulted in sound management of Navigator's exposure to ESG risks, assessed over more than 70 indicators in the Sustainalytics framework, and led to very significant improvement in this rating since the last assessment, already top-rated.
The indicators assessed encompass topics related to corporate governance, management of carbon emissions, waste and effluents, water management, community relations, products and services, human capital, occupational health and safety, land use and biodiversity, and stakeholder governance. A bioindustry in the right side of the future. I will now hand over to António.
Thank you, João. Let's please turn to slide 17 with a wrap-up of the Q2 and H1 results. We believe the company has delivered strong results despite the geopolitical instability, the uncertainty, and volatility. In fact, it's the second-best first-half result ever. 2024 got off to a positive start with a significant increase in demand for pulp, paper, packaging, and tissue, as we have explained. We registered a positive evolution in prices across all segments. Navigator's uncoated woodfree paper sales price increase" implemented since late 2023, a very agile management of our business mix, as well as an active management of our marketing mix initiative, and a significant drop in cash costs achieved thanks to purchase price negotiations and better consumption efficiency across all mills, especially for fiber, chemicals, and logistics. We also pressed ahead with our diversification plan.
During this quarter, we successfully completed the tissue acquisition, which is today Navigator Tissue UK. In the packaging segment, on top of new developments on paper products, the Molded Pulp project, already under commissioning and planned commercial start-up later in this quarter, under the g-Kraft BioShield brand. In the meanwhile, we have again demonstrated the consistency of our conservative financial policies, maintaining our sustainability and investment commitments. Let's turn to slide 19 with an overview of our strategy going forward.
Our sound financial position allows us to consider opportunities for key bottlenecks in our core businesses, investing in efficiency and innovation. As already mentioned, the strong CapEx of €93 million demonstrates our commitment to value-added investments in the sustainability of our operations. Also, this quarter, we went ahead with acquisition of Accrol.
This acquisition will enable us to grow, providing greater scale in the business and more diversification with two new tissue segments, wet wipes and facials, as well as providing synergies with our actual tissue business. In the second half of 2024, we will start up an innovative unit for integrated production of Molded Eucalyptus Cellulose, designed to replace single-use plastic packaging in the food service and food packaging markets, as already explained, and Dorival will update you on the project shortly.
Let's turn on to slide 20 with a glance at our footprint, already including Navigator Tissue UK. 10 world-class production units with state-of-the-art technology, with a global capacity of 1.66 million tons of paper, 1.6 million tons of pulp, 165,000 tons of tissue reels production, and 310,000 tons of tissue working, as well as 381 megawatts of energy, which will grow towards the end of this year again.
Commercial companies in 17 different geographies and goods sold to 130 countries, actually more than 130 countries across all the five continents. Now reaching close to 4,000 employees with 38 nationalities, each can offer a wide range of opinions, perspectives, and forms of interaction, thereby boosting our potential for innovation. Navigator continues to seek new opportunities for sustainable growth. I will now hand over to Dorival to comment on the Molded Pulp project.
Thank you, António. Going to slide 21. As António just said, the project for integrated production of eucalyptus-based Molded Pulp products continues to progress as planned, with the commissioning of the plant having already begun and commercial production starting at the end of the third quarter of 2024 under the g-Kraft BioShield brand. The plant will have a production capacity of around 100 million units a year, making it one of the largest in the world and the first integrated plant using eucalyptus fiber, entering a market with high potential in growth. The launch will be based on seven products for the food sector: a 22-centimeter plate, a 17-centimeter plate, a 500-milliliter bowl, a 1-liter takeaway packaging, a laminated tray for raw protein, a fruit basket, and an espresso coffee cup.
The seven products offer production flexibility and scalability for exploiting the various opportunities opening up to replace single-use plastics. Alongside this, work has proceeded on developing new products in partnership with national and international clients and on developing new and sustainable barrier-proof solutions, as well as trials of commercial products. I will now hand over to António, who will wrap up with a few words on the outlook.
Thank you, Dorival. Let's turn to slide 22. The current geopolitical tensions, which have created a highly complex situation in both industrial and logistics operations and in several markets, are leading to increased volatility in the international markets where the present reducing visibility. That said, for Q3 2024, a seasonal slowdown in demand and an increase in pulp supply are expected, which will result in negative pressure on the benchmark pulp price. However, H2 price of pulp is expected to remain above H1 and very clearly above last year's average. Actually, only surpassed by the price achieved in H2 2022. On the other hand, the impact of new capacities coming online in Latin America, about 2.6 million tons, is anticipated to fall mainly into 2025, which may ease the pressure expected for the second half of the year.
In the paper segment in Europe, as we have signaled last May, an above-average seasonal slowdown in the growth rate of the order book is expected for Q3, although we anticipate a better quarter versus the same period last year. Recovery is expected in Q4, as it is always a seasonally strong quarter for paper and with the impact of capacity reductions.
Strong cost pressures are expected to continue, with costs stabilizing at a level well above pre-pandemic levels. Also, the increased East to West Sea freight rates and capacity exits in Europe and USA put positive pressure on paper prices. Regarding stock capacity, there is still room for further temporary or permanent capacity reductions in the paper sector due to profitability issues. In the tissue segment, demand continues to rise at interesting levels, and the growth of 3.2% is estimated for Europe in 2024.
In this segment, Navigator continues to leverage synergies driven by business growth, particularly with the acquisition of Navigator Tissue Ejea and growing with the new acquisition of Navigator Tissue UK. Business diversification through tissue, operational flexibility between paper and pulp, and within different types of paper, market and business mix product, market and business mix, production adjustment, and an efficient commercial strategy combined with rigorous programs to control costs, as well as the company's strong financial position, have enabled us to deliver consistently strong and stable results in changing market contexts. We are confident that all these factors, in parallel with the continuous development of both our packaging and tissue business, will continue to point to the resilience of Navigator's model. Thank you.
Thank you, António. This ends our presentation. We are now open for the Q&A session.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, we will now begin the Q&A session. If you'd like to ask a question, please press star five on your telephone keypad. If you change your mind, please press star five again. Please ensure that your device is unmuted locally before proceeding with your question. Our first question comes from the line of Enrique Barrondo from JB Capital. Please go ahead.
Yes. Hi. Good afternoon. Thank you for the presentation and for taking my questions. Two from my side. First one.
Hey, Enrique.
Yes.
Enrique, I'm so sorry, but we are not listening to you. Hello?
Can you hear me now better?
Now better. Thank you.
Yes. So I have two. The first one is regarding the volume outlook. You gave some guidance for volumes in the second half of the year for the uncoated wood-free paper business by quarter. So I was wondering if you could also share similar views on volumes for the pulp business. And the second one related to costs. When looking at gross margins, this has been close to record highs in the second quarter, with costs being positively impacted by variation in production. So if you could help us understand what were the moving parts behind the good data in the second quarter and what we can expect in terms of gross margins for the second half of the year and the flow through to EBITDA, that would be helpful. Thank you.
Enrique, I'm so sorry. I think I understood the first question, but to be fully honest, I didn't understand the second question. Are you so kind to repeat the question a bit slowly, please?
Yes, sure. So it's related to costs. Okay. When looking at gross margins, this has been close to record highs in the second quarter, with cost of goods sold being positively impacted by variation in production. So just wanted to see if you could help us understand what were the moving parts behind the good data in the second quarter and what we can expect for the second half in terms of gross margins. Hope that was clear.
Okay. I think so. But for the sake of clarity, I'm going to repeat both questions. Your first question is you'd like to have some kind of indication where we believe volumes for the pulp business will be in H2 this year?
That's correct. Yes.
Your second question is related with the gross margins. In your view, an explanation of the good gross margin of Q2 was related to variation in production, and you'd like to have a kind of guidance for gross margins on the second half of the year.
Yes, that would be helpful. Thank you.
Okay. I will ask Nuno to help me out on the first questions. I will try to give you a first indication. I will also try to give a first indication on the cost issue, and I will ask Fernando to help me on answering the second question. So starting with the first question, the nature of the pulp business makes it significantly more difficult to preview the evolution quarter on quarter. Actually, even the statistics available for pulp do not make that prediction easier. Having said that, I think we have witnessed a very strong demand for pulp, both a bit across the world, but particularly in Europe and Asia on the first half of the year. We understand, as we speak, that particularly outside Europe, as we speak, so during Q3, there is a certain decrease of demand for pulp.
So lots of businesses are delaying their pulp decisions, eventually with expectations on price evolution. So I would expect that the pace of growth on the second half of the year will be lower than the growth that we have on the first half of the year. Having said that, this, of course, depends very much on the evolution of pulp or, sorry, of paper markets. And as we said, the tissue market, we see still a very robust demand on the second half of the year, ending up the year in Europe with 3.2%. We expect on graphic papers Q4 to be better than Q3. And actually, in Q3, the seasonality is affecting more volumes outside Europe than actually European volumes. And on the packaging segment, we actually have seen, as we have also expressed, a very robust demand.
We would expect this to continue on H2 as well on the packaging side. So eventually, we will see the second half of the year with a lower pace of growth on pulp consumption, again, a bit aligned with our view on paper, so a bit lower in Q3, a bit better in Q4. But I will hand over to Nuno. Nuno probably has further input to add.
Okay. Just to clarify, you're talking about market growth or actually about our growth? You were talking about.
Yeah, both of them. I think the view was helpful, but also to understand your particular volumes, if you could see some room to increase pulp sales, your pulp sales volumes, considering that maybe market demand for pulp could be a bit better than for actual graphic papers, considering that the end demand is for tissue and packaging, as you were commenting.
Okay. So just, I mean, I can give you a couple of figures. One, just giving some light to what António just described, I think that globally we will end the year for demand on hardwood pulp between just stable market, between 0% and -2% versus 2023. So overall, the stable market versus 2023. And given what you've just described, I think we might expect double-digit growth, but low double-digit growth on the pulp business for us Navigator in the second semester versus the first semester.
Great. Thank you.
Okay. Regarding the cost of goods sold and your comment on the cost of goods sold, I will also give you an introduction of that, and Fernando will give you further details. Actually, the explanation of the improved EBITDA Q2 vis-à-vis Q1 is largely explained by prices. So we have managed to increase prices in all our businesses and by the reduction of variable and fixed costs. Okay? Both explain a good part of the delta. On top, yes, indeed, we had some variation in production that Fernando will describe for sure better than I do. But don't forget that we had also other positive effects that explained the move from Q1 to Q2. CO2, a positive variation on CO2 licenses that have impacted our EBITDA.
Of course, the integration of Tissue UK during two months, a better performance also on our energy division, and also a positive impact on the EBITDA. Fernando. I think the answer is to Liam and Fernando. We try to anticipate this question in our comments. Like we have said, there was inventory at the end of the year. That inventory was with higher costs, especially because we have decreased from 6% to 14% on the variable cost. When you are selling from the inventory, there was a higher cost of goods sold that it was not foreseen in the second half.
If you ask if we will maintain EBITDA sales margin of just 1.2% in the further quarters, not for sure, even with 28% in the semester, it's very good. If we see our quarter information in the last year, we have a very stable margin in EBITDA margin, around 25%, with a standard deviation that it's affordable with 28. But 32, not for sure.
Okay. Thank you for that.
This question comes from the line of José António Soares Roig from CaixaBank. Please go ahead.
Hi. Thank you for taking my question. I have to.
I'm sorry. We cannot hear you.
You can hear me now? Sorry. Can you hear me now?
A bit better, but it seemed to be close to 75.
It seemed to be close to 75.
Can you hear me better now?
Yes, yes.
Now it's better. Thank you.
Perfect. So I have two questions, and one for, if you may clarify, the last one regarding the EBITDA margin with the focus because my line cut out a little bit. The first one is if you could provide some information regarding how you've been able to the difference because you've been mentioning you've been able to pass, I think you mentioned 8% increased paper prices around 8% over seasonal growth in Europe. But the year you know your purchase peak has been pretty much stable and even declining slightly last week. So could you explain the different dynamics between what you were mentioning in the past two quarters and what actually the peak is showing? This will be the first question.
Sorry. I'm so sorry. To be honest, I don't think we understood the first question. We understood it's about the paper price increase and the 8% that we have referred, but we didn't understand the question. I guess you are speaking probably too close to the micro because there is a lot of kind of feedback and noise here.
Okay. Can you hear me better now?
Yes. And if you speak a bit slower, it will be perfect. Thank you.
Perfect. I'll do so. So my first question was regarding that we've seen UWF paper price PIX being pretty much stable and even declining slightly last week. And you've been mentioning that you've been able to pass through price hikes as an answer to the market. So if you could explain the different dynamics between your pass-through and the prices we're seeing in the PIX index, this will be the first question.
The second one would be related to Accrol. And if you could provide some color on the outstanding balance sheet amount of operating leases and also some color on the operating lease cost removed from the EBITDA of Accrol. This will be the second one. And the third one would be related if you could explain again, although you explained that the EBITDA margin of 31% was impacted by prices and some positive variable and shift cost. If you could provide a little bit more, you could explain again how are you seeing margins evolving in the second half of the year? I don't know if you heard my three questions.
I think the question that we didn't understand again at all is the second one. Probably I will not repeat the question. If you can share again the second one? If you are so kind to speak a bit slowly, probably we will understand better.
The second question was regarding if you could provide some color on the balance sheet amount of operating leases for Accrol. Also if you could provide some color on the operating lease cost removed from EBITDA of Accrol. If you could provide some information on those two topics regarding Accrol.
Okay. So let me try to rephrase to see if I understand it correctly. First question, you'd like us to give you a bit of insight. How did we manage to increase our overall prices of about 8% while the PIX have moved significantly less than that? This is your first question.
Correct.
Your second question is to provide you color on the balance sheet of Accrol and the EBITDA margins of Accrol.
The balance sheet amount of operating leases and the operating lease cost of accruals, yes.
The third question is about if you can repeat what we have explained about the drivers for the excellent margin of Q2, and you'd like to give you guidance for the rest of the year.
Correct. Thank you.
Okay. Very good. I will give you some input comments for one. I will ask António Quirino Soares to further develop it. The second one is going to be very easy to answer, but I will ask Nuno to also comment. The third one, I will try to repeat, and I will ask Fernando again to give some further color if needed. Okay? So on the first question, first of all, when we speak about PIX, we speak about Europe, office papers, standard quality. Okay? So I repeat. PIX is an index that is based exclusively in Europe, exclusively in office papers, and exclusively in the standard part of the segment, in the standard segment of, if you will, the average quality of the market. Okay?
When we speak about 8%, we speak about our overall sales related to our network in Europe, outside Europe, office papers, papers for the graphic industry. Papers for the graphic industry, they can be used in different kinds of technologies: offset, laser print, inkjet, can be sold in reels, in sheets. So we are not comparing the same thing. So it speaks to a very narrow view of our presence in India. Okay? So having said that, what we did, and I think we have also mentioned that, the 8% is composed of an amount of increase slightly below 8% in Europe and slightly above 8% outside Europe. Okay? I would like to remind you a couple of things. First, we operate in over 130 countries.
So we have a certain capability to maneuver if we want to sell more in country A or in country B if the margins are better in country A or in country B. Secondly, office papers in cut-size, which is what relates into PIX in Europe, is a bit less than half of our sales. So we sell more graphical products than office papers. And let's not forget that we sell about 40% of our sales are outside Europe. So what we have tried to explain during the call is that we have been actively managing our market mix, meaning the product quality. We sell more premium than standard. PIX only relates to standard. Developing our branded business, 80% close to 80% of what we sell is our brands, not private labels.
Secondly, we have very differentiated products for specific applications like, for instance, web inkjet printing. So we have a capability to actively manage our marketing mix, and this is what explains that our price increase was better than our competitors and what is translating to the marketplace. You have probably seen already some of our competitors have published their H1 results. The ones that have comparable business with us, no matter if they are office papers, communication papers, or [2023] papers, all of them have decreased prices more than we did. So we have been able to show our consumers that we have a superior value proposition. Please, Quirino.
Nothing really to add. António, your comments were complete. I would just summarize that we have led the price increase moves in Europe. So we are ahead somehow of the competition. But it is also a matter of mix. So across the combination of products, formats, geographies, we managed to have a better price increase. Also, we explained during the presentation that we have been able to improve the mix, and this is quite powerful in leveraging price and profitability.
Okay. So moving to the second question. This one will be, I think, easier to answer. We obviously don't share margins and the balance sheet and P&L from any of our companies. And actually, it's even yet too soon because we took over Accrol not long ago, a few weeks ago. So what we can share with you, which actually I've also shared in previous conversations with you guys, is that Accrol is a converter. So they don't have paper machines. They have converting operations.
And typically, converters have lower margins than integrated producers that have paper machines and converting, and even lower than producers that have both paper machines and converters. So what will be our focus in the near future is obviously to develop a business that is with better margins and aligned with what is our DNA. I don't know if Nuno wants to add anything further.
I could just add that these lower margins obviously reflect lower invested capital on the business. In the case of converting in Tissue, as you can imagine, as we're talking about the highest prices among what per ton that we have versus Packaging or versus Printing and Writing or versus Pulp, the prices for Tissue are significantly higher. Given that we're just at the end of the value chain with, let's say, little invested capital, the lower margins do not mean lower, let's say, profitability or return on invested capital. They are appropriately lower than the businesses that are more upstream.
Regarding your third question, what are the main drivers that explain the evolution of the EBITDA from Q1 to Q2? Prices. We've managed to increase prices basically across all our businesses, both of costs by adjusting to the evolution of both market prices. EBITDA, like we said, but also tissue. We have improved margins of all our businesses. We have kept on working on our costs, both variable and fixed costs. We have, as explained, a set of other positive inputs for the margin evolution, like the selling of CO2 licenses. Of course, the integration of Navigator Tissue UK that was not counting for Q1 and counted for two months of Q2. The energy division also had an improvement. We have a positive evolution on anti-dumping.
Like Fernando explained, we have also a positive evolution on stocks, namely because in Q1, we have sold some stocks. We have sold more than what we have produced, and we have sold some stocks produced by the end of 2023. In Q2, we had the opposite effect. So the delta in two years has a positive impact. Fernando?
Thank you. We are repeating for the third time the same action. So there's anything else? [audio distortion] .
So it was also explained. 31% is a very robust margin that has occurred just a couple of times in our business. Our average margin of 28%. If you have seen what has been published so far by the majority of our competitors, and I'm going to quote by memory, we had a competitor publishing a margin of around 14%, slightly below 14%. Another one about 16%.
One about 18%-19%. Another one about 10%-11%. We have posted a 28% margin. So it's probably close to the double of the average of our competitors. And I think Fernando has explained, if we look to our past, our past 12 years, our margin is very close to 25% with a very low standard deviation. So about 2.8% standard deviation. We have a minimum of 21% and a maximum of 30%. I think what is normal to expect is that our margins will be not deviating much from our standard margin.
Perfect. Okay. Thank you.
Ladies and gentlemen, please be reminded that if you wish to ask a question, you may press star 5 on your telephone keypad. And our next question comes from the line of António Soares from AS Independent Research. Please go ahead.
Good afternoon. Thank you for taking my questions and thank you for the presentation. The first one is related with the gross margin. From my understanding, your costs of your COGS are now, for the rest of the year, are similar to the second quarter. That is the first question. The second question is related with your packaging new project. I don't know if you want to share with us some figures. I think, or I guess you probably would not like to do it. Nevertheless, I don't know if you want to share with us some figures. Thank you very much.
Great. Thank you, António, for your interest and your question. So if I understand correctly, you'd like to have some kind of comfort that we believe that our costs in the remaining of the year, our costs in the remaining of the year will be similar to Q2. This is your first question?
Yes. That's it.
Your second question is about figures for the Molded Cellulose project.
Yes. Yes.
Or is packaging overall, or is specifically Molded Cellulose?
No. I was talking about the new project, in fact. But if you want to share more information with the packaging as a whole, that's great also.
Okay. I cannot share a lot of detailed figures on it. Can you imagine?
Yeah.
I think it's a very good point. But I will do my best to give you some insights, and I ask my colleagues to complement what I will for sure miss. I mean, as you know, in these times of volatility and certainty, it is extremely difficult to forecast costs and forecast prices of raw materials. It is extremely difficult. What I think we can share with you is two things.
First, that because of this volatility, while we believe some products that we buy have prices that can be still better negotiated, we try to do very short-term negotiations, quarterly negotiations, to make sure that we can profit for the evolution that we are anticipating. If we believe that the prices are already at a reasonable level, we, of course, do the opposite. We try to enlarge our negotiation periods.
At the same time, we have in place a significant number of initiatives to reduce or to improve efficiency of consumption, to reduce the specific consumption on our products. For instance, a good part of the variable of our employees depends on how efficient we are in using raw materials to produce one ton of pulp, one ton of paper, one ton of tissue.
Okay? So what we can tell you is that the company is always extremely focused on better negotiations and more efficiency. If you ask me what we would like to do, we would like to be able to further reduce costs. If you ask me if you believe this is possible, I think we can say it's going to be extremely difficult to further reduce costs under this uncertainty that we are living. I will ask Fernando or Dorival Almeida if they want to add something.
No. I think to be direct, I would say that for the end of the year, we are expecting the same plan. We are not further reducing, but we hope to keep this level of costs in raw materials.
But it's a hope, António. It's not a promise.
I'm writing a hope.
It's a promise of working hard on that direction. So it's best effort, not the result guaranteed.
I wrote that word, hope.
I would like to add that we will keep our efforts to reduce the specific consumption for everything and to optimize our recipes and our variable costs as well. But it's more hard work than scary.
So regarding packaging, what we can share with you, you remember from previous calls that we said our strategy is first, develop a tailor-made innovative pulp based on eucalyptus, which is actually protected by patents that we have registered, and we are waiting for the confirmation that those patents will be awarded. And at the same time, using our smallest tissue assets to produce packaging without losing the ability that in those assets, we are able to produce as well tissue.
And at the same time, we said this is a relatively low-risk strategy because we are going to commit not a big amount of capital for this paper packaging, and we can do it in such a way that if the returns are not good, we can still produce in their tissue. This seems quite common sense, but I must say it's not typically what the industry has done.
The industry typically has reconverted fully printing and writing machines to packaging without having the capability to go back. We have this capability to go back. So what we did during these last years was investing in our Cacia Mill to be able to structurally produce this high-yield eucalyptus chemical pulp. Part of this project was submitted to the EU Next Generation Fund and was awarded.
So we will have until the end of next year to conclude the investment on this high-yield pulp, which today we are doing with some difficulties with campaigns. And we believe that most likely we are going to be able to anticipate that. So most likely by the end of this year, we'll be in a position to produce regularly high-yield pulp. I also remember that this high-yield pulp translates into a significant reduction of wood consumption.
So as you know, we typically have 2.85, 2.9, maximum 2.95 cubic meters of wood per ton of white pulp. We do believe that we will have 2.4-2.5 maximum if we are successful in this high-yield chemical pulp. So translating into a significant cost reduction when producing this kind of packaging. Just to give you a reference, 2.4-2.5 is half or less than half the wood consumption of our Northern European competitors when they use their woods for producing packaging.
At the same time, we said we are not going to do a mainstream packaging because mainstream packaging like container boards use a lot of recycled fiber and in some cases long fiber. We are going to try to find some niches. So far, we have been able to find some niches. We have already our PM1, Setúbal PM1, full with packaging.
Actually, we are already producing more packaging than what PM1 is able to do. So we are already producing packaging in other mills, in other machines, namely, and as well in PM3, which is the second smallest mill, sorry, paper machine. So the program is progressing. And I think we are going to have, in terms of tons sold, we are going to end up this year not very far from the year 2022, which was an extraordinary year for packaging. We have also explained that last year was very tough for packaging and also very tough for us.
So this year, I think we are going to achieve a level very similar to this extraordinary year of 2022. We have like about 300 customers, and we have developed products for a very significant number of applications. And this is what we will progress in the next few years. So packaging, also as we expressed in the past, being based on eucalyptus pulp, being based on a patented process for high-yield chemical pulp, is not something that we can grow by acquiring somebody else because we are the only ones that are developing this strategy. So if successful, the next step will be, of course, to build from scratch a new greenfield paper machine dedicated to packaging.
Molded cellulose is a very interesting bet because we are very confident on our capability to succeed. It's the first time in the world that an integrated eucalyptus pulp is used, I mean, in an integrated way in the production of molded cellulose pieces. We believe that the plastic fight is going to help us. Of course, it's a completely new business for us. It's a smaller bet.
I think we have mentioned in the past this is short of EUR 15 million CapEx. This is something that we have already expressed in the past. I think it's yet too soon to tell you what could be the impact this will have in our packaging strategy. There is a big advantage. When successful, it's relatively easy to replicate and to grow because this technology is easier to install and quicker to install than a paper machine. Quirino, do you want to add something?
Very complete, António. I just probably add maybe I will repeat what you said and what we said earlier on by Dorival. But coming a few steps back, just to remind, 2022 was extraordinary for paper, also was for packaging. Back then, we were very dependent on one segment, which was the paper bag segment. By then, it was 85%-90% of our sales on the packaging side. We have used the difficult year of 2023 to develop new products, to look for the niches that António mentioned. The niches where eucalyptus is very differentiated, let's call it this way. So now we are profiting from the work done last year.
Volumes are grown, as Dorival mentioned, by 90%. We are on track with our plans, so it's according to the budgets. Compares very well with the tail of EBITDA. If we look at the margins of packaging and compared with the worst volumes of ENTIDA3, we have clear advantage. Today, we have a much more diversified business with paper bags representing around 40% of the volumes and not the 85% it was two years ago.
Thank you very much for the very comprehensive answers. Thank you very much.
Thank you, António.
Thank you. There are no further questions on the phone at this time. I will now move to the written questions. We have one from Luis de Toledo from ODDO. The question is as follows. Could you rank the cost reductions from -14% to -6% across the different business segments? BHKP, UWF, tissue, packaging, and power. Thank you.
Thank you, Luis, for the question. As you can imagine, we will not give you precise figures, but we can probably give you a range. In between the 6% and 14%, actually, the 14% is slightly above 14%. On the low range, you have more the pulp products. On the high range, you have more the paper products. Being tissue, the one that has shown a bigger reduction. Please understand this is the maximum we are prepared to share publicly.
Thank you. There are no further questions at this time. I'll hand the conference back to you.
This ends our session. Thank you all for your time. As always, we are available for any additional clarifications through our usual contacts. Have a great evening.