Good morning and welcome to this Q4 2020 presentation from BoroGuard. My name is Per Sohrle. I'm the President and CEO of the company. And I'll be joined this morning by our CFO, Peer Bjarni Lindstad, and we will take you through the following agenda. The highlights for the quarter the year, the proposed dividend for 2020, the market situation, market update for the different business segments and the outlook Fonak Steyr, and then Pejorno Lindstad will take over and talk about the financial performance in more detail.
First, the highlights for the Q4. The EBITDA came in at $263,000,000 up from $183,000,000 in the same quarter 2019. We had an improved result in all business areas. In BioSolutions, we saw both an improved product mix and lower costs, while in Biomaterials, lower wood and energy costs and high deliveries contributed to a better result. In Bioethanol, a favorable product mix and high deliveries improved the result from a year ago.
In Pharma Intermediates, a favorable product mix was also prevalent. Also in the quarter, we had a particularly strong cash flow that Perjarn will come back to you later in his presentation. If we take a look at the full year, the EBITDA came in at an all time high, dollars 1132,000,000 up from $107,000,000 in the previous year. We saw an improved result both in Biomaterials and Fine Chemicals, while there was a slight decline in Biosolutions. To continue with BioSolutions, we had, as you may be aware, reduced raw material supply during the year and also in certain periods higher distribution costs.
And this was partly offset by the improved product mix Arnd, the cost reduction. So in total, a fairly balanced result from 1 year to the next. In Biomaterials, we had both lower wood and energy costs and an increased production volume in the year from the previous period Ann, also an improved product mix. In bioethanol, we had both a higher sales volume Andre and better prices for the year as well as the extraordinary demand that we saw particularly in the Q2 for from disinfectants. The positive net currency impact was approximately SEK 30,000,000 for the year.
And also for the full year, we had a strong cash flow. Then on to the dividend proposal for 2020. Just to start off with reminding you about our dividend policy. The policy is to pay regular and progressive dividends, reflecting the expected long term earnings and cash flows of the group. The annual dividend is targeted between 30% 50% of net profit.
The Board of Directors I have proposed a dividend of NOK 2.50 per share for 2020. This is 57% of net earnings and will result in a total dividend payment of approximately NOK 249,000,000. In the year 2020, we reported under other expenses other income and expenses, we reported a net Lars of NOK 116,000,000. And this a lot of this is Krating the discontinued operations that we have in South Africa. And again, a lot of the write downs there are non cash expenses.
Therefore, the Board has made the adjustment that the 57% or 2.50% is justified based on the fact that the underlying profitability from the discontinued operations is higher than what we have reported. And as such, the EUR 250,000,000 is well within the 30% to 50% range when you calculate it on the continued operations. Then on to the market Seidt and first the BioSolutions markets for the 4th quarter. The sales volume came down 14 Ascent versus the same quarter in 2019. This was in line with our guidance and expectations.
The discontinued raw material that we saw so particularly in South Africa, but also in Spain, was offset by increased sales volume from Florida and reduced inventory. And this was mostly affecting the concrete admixture and low value industrial applications as we have seen in previous quarters. We also continue to see low demand from oilfield chemicals, which is a high value specialty application. On the other hand, sales to agriculture and batteries continued to show good numbers and increased from the same quarter last year. The average price in sales currency came in 4% above the same quarter in 2019.
And this was driven by the improved product mix, which is again coming out of the reduced sales to concrete admixtures and low value industrial applications. Then on to the full year review. For the full year, the sales volume came down 11% as we lost the raw material supply after or at the beginning of the as we entered the Q2, the full year effect is slightly less than what we saw in the last quarters. Again, this discontinued raw material supply came from the South African operation and from the Spanish operation and also for an interim period from the Parc Faltz or formerly Flambeau Operation, which is now back in operation. The sales to concrete admixture and low value industrial applications has as a consequence of this been reduced.
And in specialties also for the full year, we saw as lower sales to oilfield chemicals as a result of the reduced demand in direct COVID-nineteen effect, while sales grew several other applications increased. So if you look at the overall sales into specialties, they came up from 86,000 to 88,000 tons in spite of the reduction significant reduction into oilfield chemicals. Salt is still not satisfactory, and we will continue to implement measures to improve the profitability in Florida. The average price in sales currency is 6% above 2019 and this is due to the improved product mix, again coming out of reduced sales into concrete admixture and low value industrial applications, meaning that we indirectly increase the average sales price across the portfolio. So Dan, if we move on to Biomaterials in Q4, we had fairly high deliveries in the Q4 with above 40,000 tons.
We continue to see a lower growth Rate in the demand for cellulose eaters into construction. And this is an indirect effect of COVID-nineteen. However, this does mean that there was no growth, but the growth rate was lower than originally expected and projected. The food and pharma applications on the other hand continued to show strong growth in the quarter. And we also made Sam targeted actions implemented some targeted actions in the quarter to balance our inventories.
And I can say that we entered 2020 with low inventories, and we exited 2020 with fairly normal inventory levels in this business area. The average price in sales currency is 3% above the Q4 in 2019. However, then you should keep in mind that in the Q4 in 20 19. We sold some declassified products at very low prices. So this is reflected in this price increase.
Cellulosfibrils continued to see a fairly strong increases in sales, but still at a fairly low overall level. Then if we move on to take a full year review for Biomaterials, we had some reduced sales volumes. The total sales volume came out at 148,000 plus and this was partly related to COVID-nineteen effects. However, there was a strong product mix and the sales of highly specialized grades increased to 77%, which you can see is a very strong relation in compared to the previous periods, up from 73% last year. As I mentioned, we saw some reduced demand due to COVID-nineteen, and this was particularly in the Cellos Eaters to Construction segment.
Food and Pharma applications on the other hand continued to show strong growth throughout the year. And there was a very low prices in the textile cellulose market. However, we have a very limited exposure to these prices since we have reduced our exposure to this market, primarily as a result of the I Spear Technology Investment that we completed a couple of years ago. The average price in sales currency is 1% above 2019, and this is driven by the improved product mix that we saw through the year. And again, growing sales of cellulose fibrils, but not really making a strong impact on the overall numbers.
Then a summary of Fine Chemicals. In the quarter, we had high sales in bioethanol, but these were primarily deliveries into the biofuel segment. We also saw a favorable product mix and high deliveries in Pharma Intermediate. So overall, you can see that this came out with sales revenues above $150,000,000 which is a really high number for this business area. If we look at the full year, we need to remind ourselves about the extraordinary bioethanol sales to disinfectants that we saw in the 2nd quarter, but we also saw a year on year increase in production volume that resulted also contributed to higher sales volume as well as an improved product mix.
So the disinfectants gave an improved product mix and the overall production enabled a higher sales in this volume in this business area. In the second half, the deliveries were mainly into the biofuels segment as this market normalized after we saw a real slowdown during the Q2 of this year. The Pharma Intermediates had increased deliveries for the full year, but with a slightly weaker product mix than we saw in 2019. So overall, a fantastic year for the Fine Chemicals business unit. Then if we move on to the outlook for the Q1 and the full 2021.
To start out with BioSolutions, the sales volume in 2021 is forecast to decrease by approximately 10%, and this will mainly depend on raw material supply. It could be slightly less and slightly higher depending on how the raw material supply developed from our different sources. But the 10% reduction as such is the full year effect of the changes that we saw as we enter the Q2 in 2020. Again, this will have a positive effect on our product mix on average price because we think that we will optimize the portfolio, the remaining 90% of the volume. However, still some COVID-nineteen effects will have to be expected.
And particularly, this will be inside certain specialty applications and oilfield chemicals have been mentioned already as an example. The market conditions for Bio Vanillin expected to be unchanged, and the ongoing capacity expansion will be completed according to plan in mid-twenty 21. We also expect to see full cost of the effect of the cost savings from the upgrade of the Lignin operation in Norway during 2021. We have earlier reported that we have had a gradual impact during 2020 and full effect in Germany in 2020, but also in Kavik into Norway. We'll see a full effect of the approximate SEK 60,000,000 reduction, but keep in mind that some of that already is reflected in 2020 as well.
Then on to Biomaterials. Average price expected to be 2% to 3% below the 2020 level. And this is mainly related to price development in markets affected by the COVID-nineteen pandemic. On the positive side, however, the total sales volume and the volume of highly specialized grades are expected to increase in 2021. In the Q1, the total sales volume are expected is expected to be higher than we saw in the Q1 in 2020 and with a similar product mix.
We continue to see lower wood costs, but as on the other hand, we also have to expect some increase in energy costs and freight rates in the first half of twenty twenty one. We expect that the sales growth will continue in cellulosfibrils, but new development and customer trials will be delayed due to the COVID-nineteen pandemic, as we have seen in the last three quarters of 2020 as well. Fine Chemicals, no major changes expected in the market conditions for Fine Chemicals into Pharma Intermediates. Bioethanol. Sales will primarily be into the Biofuels segment in 2021.
We do not expect a repeat of the Q2 2020 with peak sales into disinfectants. It will be all primarily biofuel in 2021. Possible further consequences of COVID-nineteen may, of course, affect BoroGuard's business. But on the other hand, we can all hope that things will normalize as we progress into 2021. So that completes the outlook for 2021 and the first Mortar, and now I'll leave over to my colleague, Perjane Lindstad, to take you through the financial numbers in more detail.
Thank you, Per, and good morning, everyone. BoroGuard's operating revenues increased by 8% compared with the Q4 of 2019. As a result of higher sales in Biomaterials and Fine Chemicals. EBITDA reached NOK 263,000,000 compared with NOK183,000,000 in the same quarter of 2019. All business areas improved their results in the quarter.
In the Q4 of 2019, operational incidents at the Salzburg site had a negative impact on EBITDA of approximately NOK 35,000,000. Net currency effects were negative by NOK 5,000,000 compared with the Q4 2019. The EBITDA margin was 19.7% in the 4th quarter, about 5 percentage points higher than in the corresponding quarter in 2019. Earnings per share increased to NOK 1.21 compared with NOK 0.38. Earnings per share was negatively affected by minus NOK 20,000,000 in other income and expenses due to environmental accruals for preventive measures related to former operations at the Salzburg site.
On the other hand, net financial items and tax expenses were NOK 23,000,000 lower than in the same quarter of 2019. For the full year, the operating revenues increased by 5%. EBITDA reached the NOK 1132,000,000 compared with NOK 1,007,000,000 in 2019. Biomaterials and Fine Chemicals had improved results, while Biosolutions had a slight decline. The net currency impact was positive by NOK 30,000,000 for the full year.
The EBITDA margin Andy at 21.2% compared with 19.9% in 2019. Ian. Earnings per share increased to NOK 4.36. The earnings per share were negatively affected by SEK 116,000,000 in other expenses, mainly due to impairment of assets and restructuring costs related to the discontinued operations in South Africa and Spain Ant, environmental accruals for preventive measures related to former operations at the Sarzburg site. Operating revenues in BIOSOLUTIONS were 1% higher compared with the Q4 of 2019.
For the full year, operating revenues increased by 3%, mainly from currency effects. 13% lower sales volume in the quarter and 11% lower for the full year only marginally affected the top line as reduced sales from the South African joint venture only had marginal impact on the top line because we applied the equity method for accounting of the joint venture. This means that Borregoeur's share of profit after tax in the joint venture is the single entry affecting Borregoeur's profit and loss statement. EBITDA was NOK137,000,000 in the 4th quarter compared with NOK 131,000,000 in the Q4 2019. Lower operating costs and improved product mix for biopolymers was partly offset by negative net currency effects.
Lower operating costs Sver mainly related to the upgrade of the biopolymer operation in Norway and the restructuring in Germany. For the full year EBITDA was NOK 632,000,000 compared with NOK 647,000,000 in 2019. For the full year, higher distribution costs were partly offset by improved product mix for biopolymers, cost reductions and favorable net currency effects. The Q4 EBITDA margin of 18.7 percent was slightly above the margin in the Q4 of 2019. For the full year, the EBITDA margin was 20.5%, 1.2 percentage points below 2019.
In Biomaterials, operating revenues increased by 10% compared with the Q4 of 20 19. For the full year, operating revenues increased by 1%, mainly from currency effects and an improved product mix. NOK 80,000,000 compared with NOK 31,000,000 in the corresponding quarter 2019. The operational incidents at the Sarzburg site in the Q4 2019 particularly affected Biomaterials Ann resulted in reduced production volume and declassically classified products which were sold at lower prices. In addition, the result in the 4th quarter improved due to lower wood and energy costs as well as high deliveries of specialty Salulos.
The net currency impact was insignificant in the quarter. For the full year EBITDA increased to NOK 318,000,000 compared with NOK 234,000,000 in 2019. The improvement was due to lower wood and energy costs, higher production volume, improved project mix Anne Apositive Net Currency Impact. Sales of cellulose fibrils were growing in 2020 And higher sales volume and cost reductions compensated for the reduced EU Horizon 2020 grant, which ended in April last year. The EBITDA percent or margin improved significantly both in the Q4 and for the full year.
For Fine Chemicals, operating revenues were close to 50% above the same quarter in 2019. For the full year, operating revenues increased by 34%. EBITDA increased to NOK 46,000,000 Kinte Q4 compared with NOK 21,000,000 in the same quarter of 2019. For the full year EBITDA was NOK 182,000,000 compared with NOK 126,000,000 in 2019. In the Q4, both sales and EBITDA in Fine Chemicals increased due to a favorable product mix and high deliveries for Pharma Intermediates as well as higher sales volume for bioethanol.
Bioethanol also had increased production and reduced variable costs in the quarter. The net currency effect was negligible the ordinary demand from disinfectants in the second quarter and higher production and sales volume. The full year result for Pharma Intermediates was in line with 2019. The net currency impact on EBITDA was negative by NOK 5,000,000 in the 4th quarter. The negative impact came from increased hedging losses, partly offset by a slightly weaker Norwegian kroner, which weakened by close to 1% compared with the Q4 2019 using Borragaard's currency basket.
Hedging losses were NOK 44,000,000 compared with NOK 32,000,000 in the Q4 of 2019. For the full year, the net currency impact on EBITDA was positive by about NOK 30,000,000. Hedging losses were NOK 241,000,000 compared with NOK 76,000,000 in 2019. Using currency rates as of yesterday. The net currency impact for the full year of 2021 is estimated to be minus €10,000,000 not compared with 2020.
The corresponding impact for the Q1 of 2021 is also estimated to be minus NOK 10,000,000 compared with the Q1 of 2020. Border Guard's hurdle rates for extended hedging have been revised by the Board of Directors. For U. S. Dollars, the hurdle at SEK 7.50 versus the NOK has been removed Ann.
Extended hedging will now gradually increase between €8,000,000 €8.50 versus Nok. For euro, the extended hedging now will gradually increase between 9.25% 9 75 versus previously a hurdle at 8.50. And the hurdle rates have been revised due to the change in the long term average for U. S. Dollars and euro versus the Norwegian kroner.
BoroGuard had a strong cash flow from operating activities in the 4th quarter due to Ghent Reduction in net working capital, the cash effect from an improved EBITDA as well as reduced tax payments. For the full year, the cash flow from operating activities improved by close to NOK 200,000,000 due to increased EBITDA, a less unfavorable development in net working capital and lower tax payments. Investments were slightly lower compared with the Q4 of 2019 and below our latest forecast. The lower than expected spend was mainly related to larger projects, which will result in carryover Ouspend to 2021. Net interest bearing debt decreased by as much as NOK 320,000,000 in the 4th quarter, mainly because of the reduction in net working capital and currency effects from translation and hedging of equity in foreign Subsidiaries.
At the end of 2020, BoroGuard is well capitalized with an equity ratio of close to 54% Ann. A leverage ratio, which is net interest bearing debt over EBITDA of 1.58. We have updated our investment forecast for 2021, mainly with the carryover from 20 20. The forecast for 20222023 are unchanged. For 2021, total investments are forecast at NOK 550,000,000 with uncertainty of plusminus NOK 60,000,000.
Over time replacement investments are targeted at depreciation level. However, due to the large upgrade of the caustic soda production facility and carryover from 2020, We believe it's likely that we will be above the target in 2021. The main expansion project in 2021 is the capacity increase for wood based Vanillin, which is expected to be completed mid-twenty 21. Also for this project, we had carryover from 2020. The uncertainty in spend and speed in investments projects have increased due to the pandemic and travel restrictions for foreign suppliers.
Potential new projects, which so far are unknown or have not been communicated, may lead to additional investments. And that concludes today's presentation. If you have questions, please contact Borragaard's Investor Relations by phone or e mail. Thank you for your attention.