Good morning and welcome to this first quarter 2025 presentation for Borregaard. My name is Per Sørlie. I'm the President and CEO of the company, and I'll be joined this morning by Per Bjarne Lyngstad, our CFO, and we'll take you through this agenda. I'll talk about the highlights in the first quarter, the market development in the business segments, the tariff situation, and the Alginor capital raise that was completed after the end of the quarter, and the outlook for the remainder of the year. Per Bjarne will come back and talk about the financial performance. I'd just like to take this opportunity to remind you that if you are watching this webcast live, you can put through questions throughout the presentation, and we will revert at the end of the presentation and talk about these different questions.
First, I'll start with the highlights for the first quarter. We ended up delivering an EBITDA of NOK 511 million compared to NOK 442 million in the same quarter last year. This was particularly driven by the development in BioSolutions, where we had an all-time high result for a single quarter, and this was particularly explained by the strong sales in agriculture, where we have a broad offering with specialized products, but also more standardized products. In BioMaterials, we delivered higher sales prices as predicted, but this was offset by lower sales volume and increased wood costs. The result was quite in line with the same quarter last year. In Fine Chemicals, the results were down a bit because of lower sales prices for bioethanol. The positive net currency effects also had a positive impact on the result that was delivered in the quarter.
If we then look at BioSolutions first, the sales volume was in line with the first quarter of 2024, 81,000 tons. However, very strong development in sales to agriculture, and this was across all kinds of products, but of course the specialized part of the portfolio had a big impact on this development in result. The average price in sales currency came up 2% when compared to the first quarter in 2024. I should remind you that in the first quarter, we also always have a seasonally strong sales to agriculture because that's the pre-season time for the manufacturers of high-value products to agriculture. They usually take—we usually have a very high specialty sales share in the first quarter. However, I should also say that the mix was particularly favorable in this quarter, strong sales development also in the high end of the portfolio.
We reported after the fourth quarter that the U.S. had introduced anti-dumping duties on vanillin from China, all kinds of grades, and this had a positive impact, but a limited impact. That was not the main explanation why the result improved in this area. This was driven by the agricultural portfolio. In this business, we also had a positive net foreign exchange impact. In biomaterials, the average price in sales currency came in 10% above the first quarter of 2024, and we had guided for 8%-10% increase. This was in the higher end of that range, and this was primarily driven by price increases. The share of the highly specialized grades were roughly at the same level as we saw in the same quarter last year, so mostly explained by pure price increases.
Lower sales volume compared to the same quarter last year, and this was quite known because last year we delivered more than we produced, and that particularly was relevant for the first quarter. This quarter, we had more equal or balanced between production and deliveries. Lower sales volume, so that's why we sold from inventory in the same quarter last year, but this year it was more balanced. Also a positive FX impact in this business area. Sorry, we will look at fine chemicals. In fine chemicals, we saw increased sales prices in fine chemical intermediates for X-ray contrast media. However, in bioethanol, we had lower sales prices, but this was partly offset by higher sales volume. As we have guided for, there has been a significant increase in the supply of advanced bioethanol in Europe, and this is based on agricultural waste and other relevant sources.
This will have an impact on pricing also going forward. Also in this business area, positive currency impact. I will talk a little bit about tariffs. First, on the direct effect of tariffs, if you look on the left-hand side on this slide, we have a sales distribution in 2024. As an export company, Borregaard is slightly more tilted towards other regions than Europe. We have 46% of our sales in Europe or had 46% of our sales in Europe in 2024, 23% in Asia, and 30% in the Americas. If we look specifically at the United States, which currently have introduced a 10% tariff on imports into the U.S. from Norway, 23% of our sales last year were in the United States. The remaining 7% were in other parts of the Americas.
We have two production facilities in the U.S., and as you can see here, the local U.S. lignin sales, production and sales constituted roughly 13% of Borregaard's total sales, whereas the export from Norway into the U.S. was roughly 10% of total sales for Borregaard last year. The export that we do into the U.S. is based on specialty cellulose, it's biovanillin, and it's specialties in biopolymers. Mostly quite unique products. The sales of specialty cellulose is quite recent because of the closures of two specialty cellulose mills in the U.S. and Canada. Our expectation this year is that regardless of the tariffs, we would have reduced our sales into the U.S. from Norway anyway. This was an exceptional year last year with 10% of sales coming from Norway going into the U.S.
These are the direct effects, and we think that, as we say in the headline here, we think that these are quite balanced because we have a majority of the sales in the U.S. are produced and sold in the U.S., and the imports into the U.S. are mostly quite highly specialized products that are difficult to copy and few alternatives for. When we look at this altogether, we think it's quite balanced. If you look at the second order effects, these are the more difficult to predict. We have, of course, Borregaard has a hedging policy on foreign exchange, which gives predictability on the exchange rates for the next two to three years. Even though we are costing Norwegian kroner, we have hedged the currency both in dollars and euro. We have the more indirect effect of customers' customers.
Borregaard has 46% of its sales into Europe. Most of those customers are global companies that produce for the whole world market. Indirectly, some of our products will end up in other products that will be sold to the U.S. This is more difficult to see altogether. We have to make the qualification that Borregaard has 800 products. Borregaard sells to more than 100 countries. We are extremely diversified, and history has shown, for instance, during the financial crisis in 2008, 2009, that this flexibility gives us a lot of options and alternatives in the marketplace. Of course, the world market outside of the U.S. is 83% of total revenues in the world. There are lots of options out there.
If we look at GDP growth, I think that's our major concern that if these tariffs and the tariff trade wars result in a general recession, of course, all kinds of products will be impacted somehow eventually. We think that our geographic exposure and our 800 products in the portfolio gives us a good starting point. Also, the specialization strategy in itself is the best recipe for handling this situation because products that are different to copy will always be in demand. I will talk about the Alginor capital raise.
We announced after the quarter that Borregaard, Musti Invest, and Hottoland Group, three major owners that in total have roughly two-thirds of the ownership in Alginor, have decided to invest NOK 100 million in Alginor and will underwrite a subsequent rights issue of NOK 50 million so that all shareholders have the equal opportunity to participate in this capital raise. Depending on how many of the remaining investors or owners will participate, Borregaard's contribution will be somewhere between NOK 55 million-NOK 83 million, and the end result of that will be an ownership share between 36% and 43%. This rights issue will be completed later this year in the summer. The total investment will then be roughly NOK 500 million on Borregaard's part after all these different steps that we have taken with Alginor. I will complete my part of the presentation with the outlook.
In BioSolutions, the outlook is quite similar as to what we said three months ago. We expect the sales volume to be in the range of 330,000 tons driven by strong sales to agriculture, so there will be a positive mix effect in the. I should remind you that last year, agriculture was well above 40% of total revenues in this business area. Over time now, agriculture has grown to become the clear number one market for BioSolutions. The sales volume in the second quarter is expected to be in the range of 85,000, which is higher than in the first quarter. This again is a seasonal thing. That is why we expect a less favorable product mix because we always sell lower shares of specialties in the second quarter compared to the first quarter, but still driven by strong sales to agriculture.
The anti-dumping duties on vanillin, we still expect to have a positive effect from this, but limited, and it shouldn't really explain the development in BioSolutions. In BioMaterials, the sales volume in 2025 is forecast to be approximately 150,000 tons. I would say that this is an area where there is this slight uncertainty introduced with the tariffs and trade wars. We are saying 150, which is in the low end of what we guided three months ago. The share of highly specialized grades is expected to be higher, though, than in 2024. The development should be in the right direction. The average price in sales currency is still expected to be 8%-10% higher in the first half than in the same period last year.
A large share of the portfolio this time around has the potential to do a sales or price adjustment on the 1st of July. That remains to be seen how that will play out, but we have that option to a higher degree this year than compared to last year. The sales volume in the second quarter is expected to be largely in line with what we saw in the second quarter last year, which will be quite a solid quarter volume-wise. Fine chemicals, the favorable incentives in advanced bioethanol have triggered this substantial new supply from agricultural waste and other sources. That is why the sales prices for Borregaard's bioethanol are expected to be significantly lower than we saw last year. It is also going to be lower than what we achieved in 2022.
Last time we said it would be lower than 2024, probably more in line with 2022, but we're seeing the development right now. It seems like it will come in even below 2022. The sales volume for fine chemical intermediates is expected to increase in 2024 versus 2022. On the cost side, wood cost has been on a high level for some time now. We expect no change in the wood cost level in the second quarter compared to what we saw in the first quarter. We continue to see reduced energy costs from the recent investments. The environmental investments that we have made, for instance, in the electrification of our spray dryers in biopolymers gives reduced energy consumption and reduced energy costs. Of course, CO2 emissions as intended with these investments.
I talked about the tariffs and the trade wars, and we will continue to follow that and do whatever is required or necessary to mitigate the effects of those trade wars. That will complete my presentation, and I will hand over to Per Bjarne for the financial figures.
Thank you, Per, and good morning, everyone. In the first quarter, Borregaard's operating revenues increased by 3% compared with the first quarter of last year, and were for the first time about NOK 2 billion for a single quarter. EBITDA increased by NOK 69 million to NOK 511 million. The result in BioSolutions increased. BioMaterials had a result in line with last year, and Fine Chemicals had a lower result. The net currency effects were positive by about NOK 45 million compared with the first quarter of 2024. EBITDA margin ended at 25.1%, 2.7 percentage points above the same quarter in 2024. Earnings per share increased to NOK 2.52 compared with NOK 2.01 in the first quarter last year. The increase in earnings per share was mainly due to the improved EBITDA adjusted for tax.
Strong sales to agriculture were the main reason for an 8% increase in operating revenues for BioSolutions compared with the first quarter of 2024. The strong sales to agriculture were also the main reason for the all-time high EBITDA for a single quarter. EBITDA reached NOK 349 million, NOK 85 million above the first quarter last year. The U.S. anti-dumping duties on vanillin from China had a positive but limited impact for Borregaard's vanillin products. The net currency impact was positive in the quarter also for BioSolutions. The first quarter EBITDA margin was close to 30%, more than 5 percentage points higher than last year. BioMaterials operating revenues in the first quarter were 2% lower than in the first quarter last year, mainly as a result of lower sales volume. EBITDA was NOK 113 million compared with NOK 111 million in the same quarter last year.
Higher sales prices and positive net currency effects were offset by lower sales volume, increased wood costs, and cost increases in general. Wood costs were higher than expected, mainly due to higher logistical costs. EBITDA margin ended at 16.4% in this business area in the first quarter, 0.6 percentage points higher than in the same quarter in 2024. Lower sales prices for bioethanol were the main reason for a 7% decrease in operating revenues for fine chemicals in the first quarter. Lower sales prices for bioethanol were also the main reason for a lower EBITDA. EBITDA ended at NOK 49 million compared with NOK 67 million in the first quarter last year. Reduced sales prices for bioethanol were partly offset by a higher sales volume. For fine chemical intermediates, sales prices increased compared with the first quarter last year.
The net currency effects were also positive for fine chemicals in the quarter. The EBITDA margin was 27.4%, 7.5 percentage points below the same quarter last year. The net currency impact on EBITDA was, as I said, positive by about NOK 45 million compared with the first quarter last year. The positive impact came from a weaker Norwegian kroner, which weakened by about 4% using Borregaard's currency basket. Hedging losses were NOK 95 million in the first quarter compared with a loss of NOK 89 million last year. Using currency rates as of yesterday, the net currency impact for the full year of 2025 is now expected to be positive by about NOK 125 million compared with the full year of 2024. The corresponding impact for the second quarter is estimated to be positive by about NOK 40 million.
Borregaard had a cash flow from operating activities of NOK 129 million in the first quarter. The cash effect from a high EBITDA was partly offset by an increase in net working capital and tax payments. Investments were NOK 143 million in the quarter. The largest expenditures were at the Salzburg site related to the upgrade of the electricity transformation capacity and the installation of air preheater technology in a bioboiler. Net interest-bearing debt decreased by NOK 114 million in the quarter. At the end of the first quarter, Borregaard is well capitalized with an equity ratio of 58% and a leverage ratio, which is net interest-bearing debt over EBITDA, of 1.09. That concludes today's presentation. Per Sørlie and I will now be ready to answer any questions, both from the audience present here in Oslo and from those who follow the webcast.
Our Director of Investor Relations, Knut-Harald Bakke, will moderate the webcast questions.
Thank you. We will start with the questions from the participants on the webcast. The first question is from Niklas Gehin of DNB Markets regarding agriculture. Can you give some more flavor on what is driving the strong uplift in profits for the agricultural products? Have you launched new products, hired new sales teams? Is demand from customers shifting?
The simple answer is that it's connected to our products are green, and green are favorable right now, especially in new developments like biocontrol. To just give you a simple example, our products are quite unique in properties. One example is, for instance, that farmers like to blend different products like fertilizer and pesticides so that they do not have to put them into the field several times. It saves them time, it saves them cost, and our products are an enabler for blending different kinds of products before you add them into the fields. There are also other unique properties, and we have established an agricultural lab in Mumbai, and we are constantly developing and improving our products, but it's really the focus on biocontrol and green aspects of the products that's driving it.
Second question from Andres Castanos Moller of Berenberg regarding foreign exchange. Can you please help us understand what is behind the reported net FX EBITDA impact in 2025 estimated to be approximately NOK 125 million versus 2024? What part of this estimate comes from the financial gain from hedges? What part of this estimate is due to operational aspects such as lower NOK sales prices of exports?
This effect comes mainly from two elements. It's the change in hedging losses, and it's the currency rate movements. That's really what explains, yeah, 95% at least of the change from what we reported after Q4. At the end of Q4, we reported an impact for 2025 of NOK 220 million. Now it's down to NOK 125 million, and the main reason is a strengthening of the Norwegian kroner. That's really it. It affects both currency losses, which become less, and the impact from currency rates is also lower. That's why it's a lower number now than it was after Q4.
Just to avoid any misunderstanding, I mean, this is a way to explain everything else equal. This is the impact from the currency. Pricing is totally separate from this. That's why we report when I go through my presentation, I talk about the sales price development in sales currency. Prices have not been reduced in sales currency. They have, on average, been increased, as we reported in my presentation.
Thank you. Third question from Marcus Gavelli of Pareto Securities. It's on biomaterials volumes. For biomaterials, how much visibility do you have on the remaining 115,000 tons you estimate will be delivered through 2025? It would be helpful if you could shed some light on how customer discussions have progressed in recent months.
I'll just take one step back. The custom or the practice in specialty cellulose is that you have multi-year volume-based contracts and annual price negotiations, and now semi-annual price negotiations, as I mentioned earlier. The practice is that you have typically two or three suppliers, and if you need less volume than you had assumed, estimated in the contract, you sort of split that evenly or pro rata between the different suppliers. As far as what we can say is that the construction market is still soft, which is ETA grade go into construction, and that application is still soft in demand. As we mentioned three months ago, there is also cheap cotton linter pulp, which is an alternative product coming out of China. I would say that historically, that is the customer group that has variations because that's the most cyclical customer group.
The other customer groups are more stable and even counter-cyclical. Like we have talked about, sausage casings, for instance, is a product that usually is increased in demand in recession times. I would say that what we are following and what closely is the demand from the construction people.
We will now open up for questions from the physical audience here in Oslo.
Magnus Rasmussen, SEB. It seems like you have sort of changed your price terms in biomaterials from annual to semi-annual negotiations, or at least partly. Can you explain why that is and how much flexibility you have to increase prices in practice if costs increase?
I think it's not something that is necessarily desirable, but if you look at the recent five years, started with the COVID pandemic, you had really abrupt changes in costs, and it required that you made price adjustments. We made price adjustments back in 2020 and 2021 that was outside of the contract. In order to have that flexibility, both within the customer and ourselves, we have introduced this semi-annual for some customers. As a matter of fact, historically, if you go back 10-15 years, we also had annual pricing on wood cost in Norway, but that is also now semi-annual.
It is something that has evolved. It is not necessarily something we would like to see, but that is the fact. It gives us more flexibility if necessary.
Is it fair to say that costs have increased more than you expected when you negotiated 2025 prices in November?
Not really. I think that the only slight deviation from what we guided after the fourth quarter is that we have had slightly more logistics cost inbound on transportation on wood cost. We said that wood cost would be the same as last year. The wood cost is much higher than the first half last year, obviously, but we said it would be comparable to the second half last year, and it has been slightly higher driven by more logistics costs. It is a minor. It is not a big thing.
Thank you. On BioSolutions, you said that you had a 2% price increase on average in sales currency. Is that a fair assumption for the remainder of the year, or is that to a large extent impacted by product mix changes?
Yeah, I'll say that that is primarily driven by product mix improvement. It's the mix of what you sell. I would say that the pricing is fairly flat in currency, wouldn't you say?
Yeah, so it's driven by a better product mix.
Thank you.
That seems to conclude the Q&A session for Borregaard's Q1 2025 presentation.
Thank you.
Thank you.