Thank you. Good morning, and welcome to this conference call. We will start with a presentation by our CEO, Hilde Merete Aasheim, followed by a Q&A session where our CFO, Pål Kildemo, will also attend. The presentation slides we'll walk through can be seen on the webcast. The link to the webcast, as well as the slides, can be found on hydro.com. Please note that you will need to dial into the conference call to be able to ask questions at the end. It will not be possible to ask questions over the webcast. If there are any media inquiries for one-on-one with Hilde or Pål after the presentation, please contact Head of Media, Halvor Molland. With that, I turn the microphone over to you, Hilde.
Thank you, Line. Good morning to all of you joining us on the webcast on such a short notice. We have now concluded our strategic review of Hydro Rolling. As of today, we have entered into an agreement to sell 100% of the business to KPS Capital Partners. In today's presentation, we will go through the rationale for the decision to sell and provide an overview of the transaction details. Let's turn to page two. At Investor Day in September 2019, we set a new and ambitious agenda for the company to lift profitability and drive sustainability. Earnings have simply been too low for too long a time. We launched several initiatives, a new ambitious improvement program of NOK 7.3 billion, a strategic review of the Rolling business area, a new capital allocation framework to allow for different strategic modes and capital allocation to the different business areas.
We set a clear target for profitability to deliver a ROACE of at least 10% over the cycle, with every business area aiming to deliver above their cost of capital. We also set new ambitions for climate and the environment, including a target to reduce our own CO2 emissions by 30% by 2030. The ROACE target and capital allocation frameworks drive our behavior in terms of portfolio development and capital allocation, making sure that we invest in areas with the highest sustainable returns. We have made significant progress towards all these ambitions, and today we have reached another milestone. The finalization of the strategic review of Rolling marks another step towards making Hydro a profitable and sustainable industry leader to the benefit of our employees, our customers, and our shareholders. Now we'll turn to page three. Last year, we revisited our strategy with a new roadmap towards 2025.
We will pursue our strategic ambition by capturing opportunities where our capabilities match the global mega trends such as sustainability, electrification, and urbanization. We have a great starting point with a unique position within renewable-based, low-carbon aluminum, as well as recycled aluminum. With strong capabilities built up through our 115 years history in renewable energy. Our strategic direction towards 2025 is about strengthening our position in low-carbon aluminum, while exploring new growth opportunities in areas such as recycling, renewable energy, and batteries. We are well on track. We are delivering low-carbon products and solutions to new customers and markets, and we are taking steps to position ourselves in the ongoing energy transition. Our ability to deliver on our strategic ambition rests on our ability to ensure robustness and profitability in all business areas, freeing up cash, and allocating fresh capital where we see the potential for greatest return.
Turning to the next page. Let's move over to today's announcements. In 2019, we initiated a restructuring and strategic review of Rolling following many years of low returns and low cash flows. We undertook a full potential review and identified significant improvement potentials, and I'm pleased that Rolling has already delivered above expectations in the Hydro 2025 improvement program. Compared to the 2018 baseline, NOK 500 million in EBITDA improvements have been realized by end of 2020. Well on the way to deliver on the NOK 1.1 billion target by 2025. However, 2020 has been a difficult year, with the global COVID outbreak, challenging markets, and high restructuring costs. The Rolling ROACE remains low, ending the year at 0.4%. The strategic review was undertaken to evaluate if Hydro was the best owner to develop Rolling to its full potential, and it also included evaluating different ownership structures.
We have now concluded the strategic review and have reached the decision that our Rolling will have a better basis for full potential development under new ownership, considering capacity and capital required to develop the business. The decision to sell will strengthen our ability to deliver on the Hydro 2025, and in addition, will ensure the full potential development of Rolling under a new owner. We believe this is a good solution for both Hydro and for Rolling. Their employees will continue their efforts and growth in a new focused and dedicated company. Let's turn to page five. Today, we have signed an agreement to sell 100% of Hydro Rolling to KPS for an enterprise value of EUR 1,380 million. The transaction includes seven plants, one R&D center, global sales offices, and a total of around 5,000 employees.
650 of the employees are located in Norway, while the remaining are mainly located in Germany. In 2020, Hydro Rolling contributed approximately with NOK 24 billion in revenue, 17% of Hydro's total, and NOK 1.3 billion in underlying EBITDA, 9% of Hydro's total. Sales amounted to 864,000 tons, serving segments including can, foil, lithography, automotive, and general engineering. Turning to the next page. We are pleased to have found a new owner for Rolling with a strong track record of owning industrial companies. U.S.-based KPS makes controlling equity investments across a variety of industries, which fits well with Rolling's existing capabilities and potential. They hold a deep understanding of manufacturing processes and are committed to create and maintain world-class manufacturing operations in all parts of the world, operating 158 manufacturing facilities in a total of 22 countries.
KPS takes pride in a constructive approach with stakeholders, including management teams, employees, unions, customers, vendors, and communities, and recognize the importance to maintain continuity of operational performance during and after the transaction. This includes areas of safety, product quality, on-time delivery, and customer service. The new owner provides its companies with the capital necessary to support organic growth initiatives involving capacity expansion, equipment upgrades, R&D, and new product development initiatives. Turning to page seven. The sale of Rolling is an important step to deliver and accelerate on the Hydro 2025 strategy, lifting profitability, driving sustainability, creating value for all stakeholders. We aim to strengthen our position in low-carbon aluminum while exploring new growth in areas where our capabilities match the global mega trends.
In upstream, we are sustaining and improving our facilities, ensuring their robustness and competitiveness, while also reducing our climate footprint through, for example, the First Fit project in Bauxite & Alumina. This enable us to further develop our low-carbon aluminum products, where we are seeing great traction in the market for Hydro REDUXA and Hydro CIRCAL. We expect our sales for Hydro REDUXA and Hydro CIRCAL to triple and double, respectively, from 2020 to 2021 compared to the new baseline. In addition to a greener product offering, we're also investing in volumes in Extrusions through gaining market shares in dedicated segments, in addition to strengthening segment focus to drive further growth. On the strategic growth side, we are currently developing a pipeline of attractive and profitable investment opportunities in recycling, renewables, and batteries.
We will take position in geographies and segments of the value chain, which leverage our core industrial expertise and footprint, building on the foundation already in place. The world needs to produce more for less in the future, making recycling a great potential for us. In recycling, we will build capability to double post-consumer scrap volumes through organic and inorganic growth. We have several exciting projects in the pipeline that we hope to revert to you in not too distant future. We also want to build on our competence portfolio and more than 100 years of renewable energy development to become an international renewable energy developer. In renewable energy, we are gradually progressing on the investment decisions into more than one gigawatts of renewable power projects in 2021, leveraging Hydro's energy expertise together with partners to capture value throughout the value chain.
In the energy storage area, we are also progressing on our strategy with our pilot recycling plant for used EV batteries here in Norway through our part-owned Hydro Volt. Another example is our partnership with Panasonic and Equinor to explore the possibility to build a gigafactory for battery production in Norway based on renewable energy. Finally, the transaction will also further strengthen our balance sheet, increasing our robustness to deliver on these strategic ambitions through the cycle. Now let's turn to page eight. The sale of Rolling will have limited impact on other business areas, as Rolling operates as a standalone business without strong dependencies on Hydro.
Rolling has entered into agreements on continued supply of sheet ingot from Norway to Germany, liquid metal to Karmøy, and raw material for the Rheinwerk smelter, as well as facility services for the Karmøy site and other transition service agreements to secure a good transitional period. As a result of the transaction, the CapEx guidance for 2022-2025 will be reduced from NOK 9 billion-NOK 9.5 billion to NOK 8 billion-NOK 8.5 billion, which increase our capacity to pursue new growth initiatives. The overall 2025 improvement target of NOK 8.5 billion will be reduced by NOK 1.1 billion following the sale. However, of this NOK 1.1 billion, NOK 0.5 billion has already been realized as of 2020. The recycling ambition to double post-consumer scrap remains compared to new baseline expectations. Turn to the next page.
The scope of the transaction is the Rolling business area, including plants in Germany and Norway, one R&D center, and global sales offices, which in 2020 generated an underlying EBITDA of NOK 1.3 billion. The sale was completed following a competitive auction process with involvement of both financial and industrial bidders. The agreed enterprise value between Hydro and KPS is EUR 1,380 million. Following the transaction, our pension liabilities will be reduced by EUR 856 million, and we will receive a fixed cash proceed of EUR 435 million. The Rolling operations will be treated as an asset held for sale and discontinued operations in Hydro's financial reporting from the first quarter of 2021. The valuation indicates an impairment of EUR 160 million-EUR 190 million, which will be included in the annual financial statements for 2020.
Finalization of the sale is subject to customary approvals from competition authorities and is expected to be completed within the second half of 2021. Turning to the last page. Hydro has gone from being one long value chain within aluminium to now pursuing a strategy built on two pillars: renewable energy and aluminium. This is how we will create value going forward. Building on the same foundation that has made us 115 years old, we will continue to build businesses that matter, producing products and solutions for the low-carbon circular economy. With that, I would like to thank you for joining the presentation and invite you to stay for the Q&A session, which will begin now. Thank you.
Thank you, Hilde. Please note that you will need to dial into the conference call to be able to ask questions at the end. It will not be possible to ask questions over the webcast. I think we're ready for questions. operator, please go ahead.
Thank you. Dear participant, if you'd like to ask a question, please signal by pressing star one on your telephone keypad. If you are using a speakerphone, please make sure your mute function is turned off to allow your signal to reach our equipment. A voice prompt on the phone line will indicate when your line is open. Please state your name before posing your question. Again, press star one to ask a question. We'll pause for just a moment to allow everyone an opportunity to signal for questions. We'll take our first question from our participant. Your line is open. Please go ahead.
Yes. Good morning. This is Ioannis Masvoulas from Morgan Stanley. Congratulations on the transaction, and thanks for the presentation. Just a couple of questions from my side. The first one, in terms of the balance sheet. On the back of this transaction, the cash proceeds coming in later this year, it is fair to say that the balance sheet looks unlevered. How are you thinking about a potential for additional cash returns to shareholders? Secondly, the divestments also frees up some CapEx. How are you thinking about reallocating some of that capital into some of the other initiatives? The key question for me here is whether you are planning to accelerate some of your growth initiatives here. Thank you.
I can start by saying that the sale of raw products strengthen our ability now to pursue the strategy that we have laid out for Hydro 2025. It's really an opportunity to accelerate our two pillars in terms of strengthening our low-carbon positioning, as well as growing in the areas of recycling in terms of renewable energy and batteries. I think that's what we are focusing on now, that we actually can really focus on the path going forward as well as strengthen our balance sheet, as I said in my introduction, which again gives us that ability to grow.
On your questions on cash return, Ioannis, as you know, we recently updated our dividend policy, and we aim to grow our dividends in line with our earnings improvement and also have the higher percentage. If the current market environment that you see today continues throughout the year, we will be looking at a much more comfortable dividend payment for 2021.
That's all driven by the payout. No comments on additional returns for special or buybacks late in the year?
No. As we see it today, these proceeds will be used to deliver on our strategic ambition, given the cyclicality in our industry and the interesting growth prospects that we see within recycling, renewable growth, batteries, and also growing Extrusions, as well as delivering on our sustainability ambitions. We will not be paying an extraordinary dividend.
Understood. That's clear. Thank you so much.
We'll take our next question from our next participant. Your line is open. Please go ahead.
Good morning. Hopefully you can hear me. It's Liam Fitzpatrick from Deutsche Bank. Two or three questions. Firstly, it looks like a great deal. I just wanted to check, are there any kind of negative synergies, if you like, that could impact other divisions, Extruded, metal markets, primary, from the sale of this business? Secondly, on tax. You're mentioning a write-down, so I assume that there won't be much tax to pay on this, but could you just give some clarity on that point? Thirdly, just wanted to come back to the previous set of questions. Should we assume that these proceeds, an element of this, could be used towards inorganic opportunities moving forward? Thank you.
I can perhaps just comment on the synergies. As I said in my presentation, the sale of Rolling will have limited impact on the other businesses. The Rolling operates as a standalone business without strong dependencies. There is no dyssynergies for the rest of Hydro.
When it comes to your question regarding gain or loss on transactions, of course, there are some technical aspects to it also. We've done this transaction now for the year within 2020, which would represent then a loss in 2020 on the transaction as such, as you indicated. I think we should be aware also that in the period between the signing of the transaction and the close of the transaction, Rolling will be held as a sell for sale or discontinued operations. When you actually close the transaction, then currency gains or losses that you have in other comprehensive income will be recycled through the income statement, which will reduce the loss we are seeing now. Based on year-end currency rate, this is a gain of around EUR 500 million. We're still seeing a total loss on transaction.
With respect to the latest, last question. Yes, this opens, as we have communicated earlier also, we're looking at opportunities for both organic and inorganic growth, especially within the recycling area.
Okay, very clear. Thank you.
We'll take our next question from our next participant. Please go ahead.
Yep. Good morning, folks. It's Jason Fairclough from Bank of America. I guess just a question on the footprint, right? With the sale of Rolling, do you think the company now has the appropriate industrial footprint? I guess could you speak a little bit about which business is now at the bottom of the list in terms of ROCE? Could we see more investments or divestments or are we done?
I think how we have to look at that, we are invested in the whole value chain of aluminium. Each business has to be on the podium in the world championship. That Bauxite & Alumina, primary or aluminium metal, and now Extruded Solutions, they all have to earn their growth and develop as a sustainable and profitable business. We are evaluating the portfolio on that basis. Even more so as now based on the return targets that we have set and also the capital allocation process towards having an active focus on the portfolio as such in order to grow the company in terms of profitability and sustainability. I think that's how we see it. We took the strategic review of Rolling simply because the earnings had been too low.
We have been evaluating that for quite some time now and can come to the conclusion today that this business is better served with a more dedicated and a new owner. We will develop the portfolio based on the two pillars that I've described. The strengthening of our position when it comes to low-carbon aluminum. We believe that aluminum is an important enabler for the energy transition. Also growing with our capabilities towards recycling and more renewable and batteries.
Sorry, Hilde. Which business would now have the lowest ROCE in the portfolio after we lose Rolling?
Jason, as you know, all our businesses have their strengths and weaknesses that we are developing, and we don't put them on a prioritization curve externally. We have parts of our operations which are now delivering much better returns than they have for a while. How we select and look at portfolio management is we go through every business area. We see what does their roadmap to profitability look like, what capital does it require, and then are they able to deliver on that? If we see that that is not the case, we will reallocate to other business areas as we have been over the process till now. We are developing all four of the remaining business areas. We are growing some of them to a larger extent.
You could say that we're more interested in growth in parts of the downstream energy and recycling part, whereas in primary, we're more focused on keeping costs low and generating cash flows from the first and second quarter assets that we have.
Okay. Very clear. Thank you.
We'll take our next question from the next participant. Please go ahead.
Yeah, morning, guys. It's Amos Fletcher from Barclays. Most of my question's been asked. I just wanted to ask about whether the Rheinwerk smelter is included in the sale or are you retaining that? Thanks.
The Neuss smelter is included.
Okay, great. Thanks very much.
We'll take our next question from the next participant. Please go ahead.
Hi. Good morning. This is Jatinder Goel from Exane BNP Paribas. A couple of questions. Just something related to what Jason was trying to ask on existing portfolio. On Extrusions business, is that something you want to keep permanently? Or if a private equity wanted it for a value more than that you value in your own eyes, would you be willing to part with it, given you're willing to part with one part of downstream, so it's not a fully integrated aluminum proposition anymore? Are you open to that idea as well? Second question, on Rolling business, was it always a choice between selling the whole of it because it's so integrated as a single unit, as you indicated in your presentation? Or could you have kept some of the businesses which you probably wanted more than others? Thank you.
On your first question, on Extrusions, I would like to come back to what I said, how we evaluate the portfolio of our businesses. That's how we see it. We're focusing on creating profitable and sustainable businesses that serves both shareholders as well as the other stakeholders. It's not so much about being integrated or not. It's about building solid businesses where we can use our capabilities, and that's how we will look at the portfolio going forward. As Pål was talking about, we have defined strategic modes for the businesses that we have right now and we're very clear on that each business has to deliver above their cost of capital. That's how we will actively follow them and work with the portfolio. When it comes to the Rolling business, and your question was about if we have evaluated to sell part of it or not.
We have thoroughly evaluated all opportunities in terms of the deal and come forward with the announcement today, which we felt was the best solution for the Rolling business going forward as well as for Hydro to use the sale for strengthening the rest of the portfolio.
Okay. Thank you so much.
We'll take our next question from the next participant. Please go ahead.
Hi there. All of my questions have been asked already. Thank you.
We'll take our next question from the next participant. Please go ahead.
Hi, folks. It's Jason Fairclough again. Sorry, just a quick follow-up call. A decent part of the, if you like, the payment for this asset is actually the pensions. Obviously, we're in a bit of an unprecedented environment in terms of interest rates. Could you talk to us a little bit about how the pensions that are being included in the overall consideration, how have they been valued? Are we using the year-end 2020? What's the discount rate that you've used in those pension numbers, please?
That's a good question, Jason. If you start with the bridge between the cash proceeds and the enterprise value, of course, pension is the largest element that sits between there. As we stated, we free up around NOK 850 million. In the bridge, we have a lower value for pension. We have a discount of what you saw at year-end, also reflecting your comment on the interest rate environment. The pension in the bridge is around 10%-15% lower than what was set at year-end. We have some other debt or debt-like items which make up the rest of the bridge. We have, as you know, undertaken quite a rationalization and restructuring effort in Rolling. The result effects are included in our statement, the provisions and the cash effects come later. There's NOK 50 million-NOK 100 million in restructuring provisions.
There's the asset retirement obligations and environmental cleanup costs, which are around EUR 50 million or so. There's also some intercompany debt, between EUR 30 and EUR 50 million. You have other smaller balance sheet and debt-like items. The pension is the biggest figure, discount of 10% to 15% compared to what we see at the year-end. There's the provisions clean up and intercompany debt and other items.
Okay. Thanks, Pål. In a way, a bit of a related question. Could you talk to us a little bit about working capital? I assume the business is being sold, if you like, full of working capital. Have you got an idea of how much working capital is actually in this business?
Yeah. It, of course, depends on the timing of the transaction. We'll have to get back to the details et cetera in a follow-up call, depending on what time you use.
Okay. Thanks very much.
It appears there are no further question at this time. Speaker, I'd like to turn the conference back to you for any additional or closing remarks.
Okay. Thank you. Thank you everyone for joining us today, and please don't hesitate to contact us in IR if you have any additional questions. Thank you and have a good day.