Welcome everyone to the ORIOR call regarding the full year 2022. It is now exactly 3:00 P.M., and we are starting. I hand over the word to CEO Daniel Lutz.
Thank you, Milena. Ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon. I would like to welcome you to today's analyst and investor call that will report on ORIOR's 2022 full year results. With me here in Zurich, I welcome Mr. Andreas Lindner, CFO of the ORIOR Group, and Mrs. Milena Mathiuet, Chief Corporate Affairs Officer. Last year was an ORIOR anniversary year. We celebrated our 30th anniversary with a colorful and really enjoyable food festival in Zurich. A wonderful opportunity to treat the employees, customers, suppliers, and investors to culinary delights, to have exciting conversation, and above all, to say thank you. A real highlight for me. We go now to page number four and the CEO statement. We were able to achieve good broad-based organic growth and a substantial increase in EBIT and net profit. Organic growth was 6%, of which well over half is volume growth.
The rest comes from product mix and the necessary gradual price increases due to the high raw material and input prices. In the context of the distortions with high energy, transportation, and procurement costs, as well as the strong inflation in many places in Europe, this result is, in my view, a very solid result. The international segment made the largest contribution to growth and achieved above expectations a strong growth of 22.2%. Casualfood was able to benefit from the further increase in passenger numbers at airports and train stations, as well as opening additional outlets at Berlin Airport. Culinor also achieved very good growth. This was thanks to innovations, product range extensions, and price increases. Gesa, Biotta's sister company, also delivered another convincing performance with good growth.
Only Spiess Europe was unable to contribute to this segment's growth, mainly due to high inflation in France, with correspondingly declining consumer purchasing power for premium products. The convenience segment also performed very well in its core ranges. Particularly pleasing is the strong sales performance in the food service channel, as well as creative innovations and channel expansions. For example, we can now enjoy a variety of culinary offerings from Le Patron in the SBB train dining cars. The segment is significantly impacted by one-off effects. Adjusted for these one-off effects, the convenience segment would also have grown well. The refinement segment presented a good result in line with expectations. This segment is also significantly influenced by one-time effects. Low pork prices in Switzerland also impacted the top line with corresponding price reductions.
Adjusted for the one-off time effects, the refinement segment achieved a stable result compared to the previous year. The strong Swiss franc led to an exchange rate effect of -2.3% on the top line. The higher raw material and input costs could be passed on gradually, but not to the full extent. Thanks to growth with high-margin product categories, further efficiency enhancement measures, and a high degree of cost discipline, as well as the responsible gradual price adjustments mentioned before, we succeeded in achieving EBITDA at the level of the previous year with an EBITDA margin of good 10.1%. EBIT increased by +7.2% and net income by +10.6%. Andreas Lindner will explain more about this later. In 2022, we were again able to successfully advance numerous important group initiatives.
I would like to briefly mention some of them. We continue to work consistently on the implementation of the ORIOR 2025 Strategy. We will communicate a summary interim review regarding our strategy and our progress at an investor day in September 2023. Within ORIOR New Normal and the plant development, we successfully started up the new plant-based production capacities of wet extrusion technology at the Oberentfelden site. In addition, we closed two smaller production sites and successfully transferred the corresponding volumes to the main plants of Rapelli and Le Patron. The shareholders of ORIOR have recognized the importance and relevance of sustainability and ESG and have followed our proposal to anchor this claim in the Articles of Association. Another highlight for us was the first place in Inrate corporate governance rating.
171 companies were evaluated in the five areas of shareholders and capital structure, shareholders participation rights, composition of board of director and executive committee, compensation and participation models, and sustainability and information policy. ORIOR has occupied very good positions in this rating for many years. For the first time, we were able to win the best place for ourselves. The decisive factors were our ongoing optimization of governance, for example, by reducing additional mandates, and in particular, our intensive work on ESG and its new strong weighting in the rating. We turn to page number five. Our setup is characterized by the decentralized competence center philosophy, which is supported by autonomous and regionally anchored companies with their own product and brand worlds. This creates proximity to the market and makes the individual competence centers, which specialize in their product categories fast and agile.
The breadth of our product range and our diversification in categories, in sales channels, customer portfolio, and geographical market coverage makes us resilient and gives us stability. We were able to underline this once again with our 2022 annual results. All our diversification features were further strengthened and contributed to the good result. Sales to customers outside Switzerland increased to over 30% as expected and in line with our strategy. We are convinced of this positioning and the strength that comes from it because it forms the resilient and stable basis for the successful further development of the ORIOR Group in the coming years. We go to page number six. We acknowledge the tense global economic situation and the resulting challenging conditions with great respect, and are addressing them consistently and proactively, also in our specialist teams in the various champion groups.
In the following, I would like to discuss some important influences from this situation. Durum wheat, which is an important raw material for us in terms of volume, has stabilized in terms of prices on a high level. We were able to lock in our durum wheat requirements in terms of prices and volumes until quarter two, 2023, and expect a slight reduction in prices for the second half of this year. Pork and beef are two important raw materials for ORIOR in Switzerland in terms of value. Price fluctuations of these two raw materials are regulated by a price adjustment mechanism between the industry and the trade partners. In concrete terms, this means that no special negotiations are required for this from our side.
Price increases for all other raw materials such as poultry, eggs, plastics for packaging, et cetera, must be proactively addressed and negotiated, both with our suppliers and with our customers. The goal here is also to find solutions in partnership. The important thing is that it works out for both sides in the end, and that is also responsible, and that it is also responsible towards the consumer. A significant share of the electricity required was locked early for 2022 and 2023 in several tranches and at fixed prices. In Belgium, we waited because of the high prices, which have meanwhile eased significantly at the high level. Cost increases for transportation and other logistical price increases cannot be passed on or only to a small extent. Corresponding efficiency-enhancing measures have been initiated. Here and too, we are trying to apply all levers along the value chain.
This means that we talk to our suppliers in the upstream value chain. We optimize ourselves, and we look for opportunities in our exchanges with our customers. For example, we also discuss ordering and delivery rhythm, which can bring significant improvements with minor adjustments. We have succeeded in agreeing with our long-standing transportation partner that a new electric truck will be on the road for the ORIOR Group from end of this summer onwards. Casualfood, with its B2C business model, can adjust its selling prices itself and immediately. In addition, Casualfood operates to a large extent in the airside area of airports, where price sensitivity is generally lower. Accordingly, Casualfood is probably equally affected by the higher input costs, however, can cushion them much more easily, at least in the current framework.
We will now go to page number seven, and I will briefly hand over to Andreas Lindner for further remarks on the influences of the global economic situation. Andreas, please.
Thank you, Daniel. Ladies and gentlemen, I would also like to welcome you to this call. On this page seven, we see further influences of the global economic situation last year. Since late summer, we have prepared extensively for a possible power shortage situation. Also, this was rather unlikely. We see the risk of a possible threat next winter as probable and want to be prepared for it. For example, we already began implementing targeted energy-saving measures for each business unit mid-2022. For example, with the temperature adjustments for the refrigeration and the freezer rooms, including disciplined opening of doors and also adjustment of office temperatures. An important, and for many years, valuable partner in these matters is the Energy Agency for the Economy, called EnAW. Together with their consultants, we work on the continuous reduction of energy consumption also by means of investments.
The new situation with high electricity prices and the threat of a power shortage has also required us to fundamentally rethink our approach. For example, as mentioned earlier, we have tested and implemented lowering and adjusting the temperatures in the cold rooms and freezers by colder by 1°–2° in combination with better coordinated door openings. In addition, we have developed modular emergency plans with concrete measures in each competence center to ensure the best possible response capability should the situation worsen again. Another important influencing factor from the economic environment is the exchange rate, which is also gaining in importance for us as our foreign share increases year by year. The Euro depreciated significantly against the Swiss Franc, especially in the second half of last year, and traded below parity until the end of the year.
In the fiscal year, the Euro lost on average 7% compared with the previous year. This resulted in a negative sales effect of -2.3%. Due to the assumed further Euro depreciation against the Swiss franc, we expect a negative currency effect on sales of slightly above -1% also for 2023. To reduce the impact of exchange rate effects, we are increasing natural hedging wherever possible and systematically hedging parts of our foreign currency exposure. In addition, we have set up a Euro cash pool for all companies to ensure efficient use of cash flows. Since the first SNB interest rate hike last June, interest rates have been rising continuously. In the meantime, the SNB key interest rate stands at 1%.
The interest rate increases had only a minor impact on our results in the past fiscal years, as we were able to reduce the leverage ratio and still benefit from the fixed and low bond interest rates. The redemption of the bond as of September 2023 has already been implemented ahead of schedule with a new syndicated loan of CHF 150 million. To counter the rising interest rates, we are systematically hedging parts of our interest rate exposure and systematically continue our deleveraging. I hand back to Daniel.
Thank you, Andreas. We go to page number eight and ESG sustainability. Here, you will find some highlights around sustainability at ORIOR. I will not go into detail, but would like to mention a few points. Since 2022, we have integrated all ORIOR competence centers into a systematic sustainability management system. This is an important basis for also meeting the new legal requirements. Keywords here are non-financial reporting, CSRD or risk analysis. We announced in August that we would join the Science-Based Target, SBT for short. We are now working on the preparation of the baseline and expect to submit the commitment letter in June this year. The ratings also were worthy of mentioning. On the one hand, in terms of corporate governance, as previously mentioned, the very good rating from Inrate.
On the other hand, we were also able to achieve good developments in other ratings. At CDP, we have confirmed the good B rating. At MSCI, we have a double A rating and are tasked in the top 20%, and our sustainability reporting was recognized by focus reporting in the very good leading category. The next sustainability report will be published on 27th of April 2023. I will now hand back to Andreas for the financial report. Please, Andreas.
Thank you, Daniel. I will begin my review of the past fiscal year on page nine with details of the development of sales. The increase in sales in 2022 compared with the previous year on the right-hand side was +3.7% to CHF 636.7 million, which was well within the co-communicated guidance range. Organic growth was a good 6% and was characterized by the good performance of the international segments with over 20%. Well over half of the sales growth came from the increase in volumes. The exchange rate effect was strong, influenced by the significant Euro devaluation and amounted to -2.3%, which corresponds to CHF 14.2 million. To the left, we see the growth composition of previous years.
We also achieved organic growth of 2% already in 2021, driven by the international segment with 6.8% and the convenience segment with over 10%. The broad positioning and diversifications by markets, channels, and product categories made this organic growth possible. To the convenience segment on page 10. The convenience segment with our 4 competence centers achieved net sales of CHF 220.2 million, which at first glance shows a slightly negative growth. Adjusted for one-off effects, namely the sales reclassification, the net booking of agency sales at Le Patron, and the sales transfer to the refinement segment totaling CHF 8.2 million, the segment realized a growth of +2.5%.
This reflects above all the good development of the convenience core product ranges, which continue to enjoy strong demand in virtually all categories. The convenience segment thus contributed 34.2% of the group's total sales. The retail channel was slightly down due to the further normalization of consumer habits. In the food service channel, a significant revival was noticeable for all convenience companies. Exports of our plant-based range suffered somewhat last year from inflation and the corresponding loss of purchasing power in the target markets. However, the trend is still unbroken and will again provide strong growth impulses abroad. We will be able to serve this growth quickly thanks to successful commissioning of the new extrusion line. I now switch to the refinement segment on page 11.
The refinement segment showed a stable development in line with our expectations and slightly exceeded the previous year's result, thanks to good volume and sales growth. Here, too, there were special one-off effects. On the one hand, the transfer of sales from convenience to refinements and on the other hand, the discontinuation of the Russian business. Together, there are one-off effects in the amount of CHF 6 million Swiss franc. Excluding these effects, refinement sales exactly matched the previous year's level, which is remarkable in the context of the environment and the historically low pork prices and corresponding price reduction. The segment realized sales of CHF 249.1 million Swiss franc and thus contributed 36.3% of group sales. All competence centers were able to grow despite strong pressure on the top line due to the historically low pork prices.
The retail channel was unable to match the previous year's level. However, we were able to compensate for the pork-related price reductions with good volume growth. In addition, the food service channel showed a pleasing development in 2022. The raw material situation remains challenging, and availabilities are very tight in certain raw material categories, such as organic and in general for beef. Prices for beef and poultry remain high. In pork, we have historically low prices due to the temporary oversupply. The successful expansion of our terroir and core ranges with new specialties such as the Pure Nature line or smoked and bacon articles deserve positive mention. I will now turn to the international segment on page 12. Our four foreign competent centers achieved sales of CHF 189.7 million.
That is a growth of 13.6% compared to 2021. The share of the international segment amounts to 29.5% of group sales. Organic growth in the segment was a pleasing 22.2%, while the foreign exchange FX due to the strong EUR devaluation amounted to a considerable -8.6%. Culinor showed good growth due to innovations and expansion of our customer base and gradual necessary price increases. Casualfood also showed strong growth last year with existing outlets, but also with new openings, especially at the BER Airport in Berlin. With 21 outlets, Casualfood is the largest F&B provider on the site at BER.
We still see great potential in Casualfood, as only 69% of outlets were open at the end of 2022, and we expect passenger numbers to continue to rise in 2023. The SmartSeller flagship store in Ljubljana continues to develop very well. Gesa continues to be very successful in the B2B business. The products are in the trend category, Bio, which generally perform well. Our Alsatian sales platform, Spiess Europe, felt the high inflation rates in France and is currently under corresponding pressure with its high-quality premium products. We turn now to the consolidated income statement up to EBIT level on page 13. ORIOR Group...
The ORIOR Group generated net sales of CHF 636.7 million in fiscal year 2022, an increase of, as mentioned, +3.7% compared to the previous year and therefore well within the communicated guidance. Absolute gross profit increased by 6.4% to CHF 292.5 million, mainly driven by Casualfood growth, necessary and responsible price increases, and growth with high-margin assortments. Gross margin increased by 116 basis points to 45.9%, again driven by the growth of Casualfood with a gross margin, which is well above the group average, as well as additional growth with high-margin products. In view of the sharp rise in input costs, price adjustments were also essential. Negotiations with our customers were conducted at a higher cadence due to the extraordinary situation.
Step-by-step price adjustments were agreed from May onwards, which compensated for a good part of the negative cost drivers, including also the higher electricity costs. Despite the adverse environment, absolute EBITDA reached the previous year's level of CHF 64.1 million. Positive drivers for this were the growth with high-margin product ranges, the flexibilization of cost structures, and of course, the price increases. Negative influencing factors were the significantly higher input costs and the discontinuation of the German economic aid as from quarter two of 2022. In this inflationary environment, the EBITDA margin reached a good 10.1%, only slightly below the previous year level, but well within the guidance range of 10.0%-10.3%. EBIT increased by 7.2% to CHF 37.9 million.
The main drivers were the lower depreciation and amortization, also due to the stronger Swiss franc, and one-off effects in the previous year. That is the special write-offs we had in connections with the closures of two plants. The EBIT margin was 6% versus 5.8% in the previous year. I turn to page 14, and thus to the consolidated income statement below EBIT. The financial result improved by CHF 915,000 due to the gain from the SmartSeller joint ventures with Heinemann and income from interest and currency hedges. Group profit before taxes increased by 10.8% to CHF 35.4 million. Income taxes changed only insignificantly. The tax rate was at 16.6%, slightly below the previous year's level, but within the medium-term expected range of 14%-18%.
The minority interest relates to Casualfood, that is the share that is not allocated to ORIOR. With the acquisition of the last tranche of 11% last September, there will be no more minorities in the future. ORIOR's shareholders' net income improved by 10.6% to CHF 30.2 million. Accordingly, earnings per share increased from CHF 4.19 to CHF 4.61. Page 15 shows the consolidated balance sheet according to Swiss GAAP FER. There were no particular changes in the balance sheet compared with the previous year. Intangible assets decreased due to the ordinary amortization. As in the previous year, the equity ratio at the end of last year was at 21.3%, and thus above the 20% threshold that is important for us.
The equity ratio, according to the shadow calculation that is taking goodwill into account, was at 37.7%. I turn to page 16. Here we see the development of the debt ratio, the data at the debt to equity ratio since 2013. Until 2019, the leverage ratio always remained below 2.5, despite various acquisitions. Due to corona-related effects, the debt ratio was higher in the short term at 2.87 in 2020, but could produce again to 2.09 in 2021. Now, in fiscal year 2022, and despite the last tranche of Casualfood and higher CapEx, and thanks to the good operating cash flow, we were able to further reduce the leverage ratio to 2.06.
The declared target of our leverage ratio remains clearly below 2.5. I turn to the cash flow and dividend on page 17. Thanks to active working capital management, operating cash flow reached CHF 59.4 million last year, corresponding to a cash conversion of good 92.7%. As far as the dividend is concerned, an absolutely higher distribution of CHF 2.50 per share will again be proposed this year. This corresponds to a dividend increase of 4.1% and a payout ratio of 54%. This increase is in line with our strategy of an attractive dividend policy, which provides for a steady increase in the absolute dividend. Since the IPO in 2010, ORIOR has always significantly increased the dividend in absolute terms.
We have also committed ourselves to this attractive dividend policy for the future as part of our Strategy 2025. We are proud of our shareholder base, which is characterized by long-term oriented and solid investors. With these words, I give back to Daniel.
Thank you very much, Andreas. We turn now to page 18 for the outlook. We expect a good year, 2023. Once again, our decentralized setup with broad diversification will give us the necessary stability. We anticipate higher input costs throughout the year and a continuing challenging geopolitical situation. For the current financial year, we again expect broad-based organic growth of 4%-6.5%. This will be driven by price and volume growth. The main driver will continue to be the international segment. We also expect good growth for the convenience segment and the development at or slightly above the level of the previous year for the refinement segment. On the channel side, the food service channel, in particular, is likely to increase its performance once again. New channels, for example, at Culinor, will also be further strengthened thanks to innovation.
On the product side, we see good opportunities in the high demand categories of plant-based and fresh pasta. Travel will continue to increase, plus new Casualfood locations will open in 2023. At the same time, the necessary but responsible price increases will also have a positive impact on the top line. With the closure of the two smaller production sites, a further sales volume of CHF 1.7 million will be shifted from the convenience segment to the refinement segment. We go to page number 19. Despite higher input costs in the areas of raw and packaging material, energy and transportation, as well as inflation-related wage increases, we expect an absolute EBITDA increase. The corresponding EBITDA margin is between 9.8% and 10.2%.
The positive impulses or drivers on the margin can be summarized as follows: Sustainable and broad-based growth with high margin, product ranges, and innovations remain the most important driver. Casualfood, new financial footing created from the ORIOR New Normal initiative, as well as more flexible costs in general. The annual productivity increases with the supply chain excellence measures, as well as the plant development projects, which strengthen our competitiveness and have a sustained positive impact on our margins. Finally, the responsible price increases in the context of higher input costs. We expect the tax rate to remain within the expected medium-term range of between 14%-18%. In terms of capital expenditure, we expect a CapEx of CHF 18 million-CHF 20 million. On the next page, we see some highlights on the convenience segment. I just wanna highlight the picture on the bottom left with Biotta.
We have decided for the Northern Europe part, being for the Scandinavian region, to change from glass bottles to Tetra Pak. This will allow us to lower production costs and gives us a more competitive price structure in the Scandinavian countries. That logically should lead to higher sales. We go to the next page. To 1 highlight in the refinement segment of many, here I would like to stress on Rapelli and the launch of a online store. In the online store, we will have 2 types of. One is B2C, meaning that whoever is here can order directly by Rapelli some very special products.
Rapelli has opened a B2B, a business to business, online shop that allows our customers in the Ticino to order directly, and that gives us next to additional sales, also more efficiency in terms of deliveries because we can get better scheduling. We go to the next page and the international segment and 2 highlights here. As mentioned before, in the Berlin Airport we are quite sure with the increasing number of passengers that we'll also be able to open up additional new concepts and gaining more distribution thanks to that. The other one, and you see the picture on the bottom left, there are 5 products. It is a, an Indian fresh menu range developed by Culinor and that will be sold this year in Germany. Okay. This brings us to the end of our presentation.
I would like to thank you for your attention, and we are happy now to answer any of your questions. Thank you very much.
Please, if you have any questions, raise your hand. It looks like as if we do not have any questions. All right. As you don't have any questions, if there are any afterwards, please do not hesitate to contact us. I would say we hereby close the call. Thank you very much for your attendance.
Okay. Thank you very much and have a good afternoon.
Yes. Thank you very much. Yeah.
Bye-bye.
Bye-bye.