Hello, and welcome to today's webcast, where Arctic Paper will present the report for the second quarter of 2024. After the presentation, there will be a Q&A, so if you have any questions, you can send them in via the form to the right. With that said, I hand over the word to you guys.
Hello, good afternoon. I would like to present together with Katarzyna Wojtkowiak, who is the CFO of the whole group, and me, Michał Jarczyński, the result of the Q2 2024.
Well, we start with a short summary of Q2 results, and the revenues, sales revenues, in Q2 2024 were similar as in Q2 2023, but the mix is a little bit different. So we have a bigger paper sales volume, with a little bit lower price, denominated in Polish zlotys. Whereas we have a similar volume of pulp sales with a slightly higher price. We could see in Q2 some slowdown in the economy, especially, which was, of course, generated by the general macroeconomic situation in Europe, especially on the German market, which is one of the biggest market for our sales. In terms of EBITDA, it was on a similar level as in Q2 2023.
A little bit higher if we consider the one-off events. Also the split of EBITDA between our pulp and paper segments was similar, with a little bit higher EBITDA of the pulp segment. Lower operating cash flow in Q2 had two major causes. First of them was the lower gross profit, and also there were negative influence of the changes in forex, foreign exchange differences. The net debt-to-EBITDA level is safe on a very low level. If we jump to the summary of half year 2024, the net sales was a little bit lower if we compare it to the half year of 2024, whereas the volume was higher both in the paper and pulp segments.
But we noticed the lower paper prices and a little bit higher pulp prices, which, as I mentioned before, was influenced by the general macroeconomic situation in Europe. Lower EBITDA for the group is mainly caused by the lower pulp segment. And here, there were two also main causes. One was high wood prices, and the second one, there were some bigger spending on renovation or modernization of machinery in the pulp segment. As I mentioned before, the net debt-to-EBITDA, also in the whole first half year, was very strong.
I would like to present some comments regarding the business performance, mainly in paper in Europe, and with some comments regarding pulp as well. This, after a very interesting, and rise, regarding the demand across Europe during the Q1, since end of April, we noticed some kind of slowdown of, the economy performance, and especially in Germany. Germany is our biggest market, normally is between 20%-25%, sometimes even 27% of our business. But this year it was only 21%-22% due to a recession in German economy. Unfortunately, Germany is the biggest European economy and also the biggest printing sector in Europe, and impacts us regarding the demand from all perspectives.
We were able to increase our prices during the period of January till April, and then due to this lower demand, we have to focus how to maximize our capacity utilization during Q2. Q2 was a little bit lower regarding the volume for the entire six months of this year. The capacity utilization was on the level 76%, around 86% in Q1 and around 80% in Q2. It seems that also the volume is quite the same level. There was significant improvement regarding Q1, when we were over 140,000 tons of paper, and drop off minus 30,000 tons in Q2. The prices are quite stable.
Even though we noticed significant increase of the raw materials, mainly the pulp prices, because it was rise quarter by quarter, month by month, then we are partly will be able to offset this increase by increase of prices. Please point out that we have a cost in Swedish krona and dollars. We have a revenues in Swedish krona, euros, pounds, Polish currency, and finally, we all have to convert all numbers into the Polish currency as our reporting, reporting currency. No big changes regarding the portfolio. We are still leading producer of the high-quality graphic paper in Europe. Our top brands are Amber, regarding the uncoated offset paper, the G and Arctic for the premium coated grades, and Munken as a premium uncoated book paper.
Only around 10% of all business is outside of Europe, that we are so dependent of the European economies. From one side, it give us some benefits regarding lower logistic costs, but from other side, we are less hit by cheap import from Asia. So far, Asians are focusing to export on dumping prices to Middle East and to Africa. Due to logistic problem, especially on the Suez Canal, the flow of the paper from Europe, to Europe from China is quite limited. No big changes regarding the current structure. We already noticed that the drop is across same percentage across all segment. Means that marketing expense of books, publications, this business is quite the same percentage affected by this lower economy.
The pulp business was well described by Rottneros publication a few days ago, but I would like to mention that we had another quarter of rising pulp prices. Since mid of last year, week by week, month by month, we noticed significant increase of the prices for the long fiber and as well for the short fiber. During the last few weeks, we noticed some kind of stabilization, and currently, due to this imbalance between supply and demand, we should expect some kind of drop of the pulp prices. It's also partly connected to new capacity.
A few weeks ago, the biggest, giant, pulp mill has been started in Brazil, with its annual production of 2.5 million tons, and I think that due to this, low recovery of the European economy, this additional volume will hit especially the, short fiber pulp prices. We are in a, a full swing regarding our, top project, means the molded pulp trays plant, which will be located in Kostrzyn in Poland. End of Q3, beginning of Q4, we have a plan to start up production. Already, most of the equipment have been delivered. There is a time for assembling, training of our employees, and beginning of next year, the full production will be dedicated for our clients. Mainly clients in, German-speaking countries, partly to Netherlands, and partly to Sweden. We have several interesting project in the power segment.
I would like to describe the key elements. We have several photovoltaic projects in Sweden and in Poland. There is also an ongoing big project to modernize biomass boiler in Grycksbo, in Sweden. Ongoing project to install a wood pellet production line in Grycksbo, with annual capacity between 50-100,000 tons of pellets. We also have some project in Sweden regarding energy storage system, and as well, we are more active to provide grid services to national grid provider. In Sweden, means Svenska kraftnät, and in Poland, Polskie Sieci Elektroenergetyczne. The experience which we already collected in Sweden is a good asset for us to be more aggressive and to be a more important player on the Polish tenders organized by Polish TSO in 2025 and 2026.
Recently, we have finished, by the end of June, the biggest photovoltaic project in at our premises in Kostrzyn. We use already our property to install up to 17 MW PV installation, and it's already connected to our system. We are able to produce up to 18 GWh per year of green energy, mostly dedicated for our paper machine, but there was, as well, the surplus will be sold to the grid. We also discover, and it's already started, another next phase of this energy transformation Kostrzyn. On the right side of the picture, you can see empty area, which is south of the Kostrzyn plant, and this area also belong to the plant. And we already got the building permit, and by end of Q1, the additional 9 MW of photovoltaic will be connected to our system.
We are also opening for another project, to maybe to acquire some interesting, and also looking for the, the other projects. Now is a good time for opportunity to, to invest in opportunities, projects in Poland and in Sweden, because we have already lowest, photovoltaic panels prices, during the last 10 years. If you just compare the CapEx per megawatt today versus it was one or two years ago, the drop due to, drop of the panel and, and civil works prices is around one third.
We shortly summarize the EBITDA evolution during past years. We can see that, if we consider 12-month rolling EBITDA, it is still on a positive and higher than historical level. We are striving to be as cost-effective as possible, and this is why we invest so much, especially in the energy sector. But also, the packaging, the molded tray factory, which is being built, will contribute to our future EBITDA. Then, if we have a look at net to EBITDA during the past five years, we also can see a historically much better situation. It's still negative. We have stable financial situation. We cooperate very well with our financing bank, and we pay our financial liabilities on time.
We are also safe with our future investments, which we plan to finance partly from our own cash, and also partly, to refinance them by our financing banks, which, this situation is allowed due to our good and safe level of cash and stable balance sheet.
I would like to also emphasize that our strongest balances and the net debt to equity ratio is one of the best in our sector, and also it give us a frame and a solid fundament to think about the future. Already Q already half year of this year is the year when we decided to invest much faster and much more. Normally, the turbulent time is a time for good time for investment for the companies with well-defined strategies, with solid balance sheet, and with clear message what to do and what why to invest. Already during the six months of this year, we spent more than SEK 470 million, mainly to the new RES.
Please point out that close to 50% of the CapEx during the last six months have been dedicated for the new segment, means energy and packaging. It give us a chance to see revenues and profitability better compared to the pulp and paper already in 2025. We also spent some money for modernization of our pulp mills, and one third of our CapEx is dedicated just for maintenance activities. That's all regarding our presentation for Q2. Looking for a question from your side.
Thank you so much for the presentation here, and I think we're gonna jump right into the Q&A here. The first question is: The net income after tax decreased significantly by 48.4% year-over-year. Can you provide more insight into the factors that led to this decline, particularly in the context of increased operating profit?
Could you repeat the question, Katarzyna?
Yeah. Sorry, sorry, I didn't hear the beginning of the question.
Oh, of course.
Can you please-
Of course. The net income after tax decreased significantly by 48.4% year-over-year. Can you provide more insight into the factors that led to this decline, particularly in the context of increased operating profit?
I'm not sure that I understand the question, sorry. The decrease in?
Net profit.
The net income.
Net income, yes. The big effect of this were the financial items, and most of it was the currency exchange differences. There were big fluctuation especially in the Swedish crown in relation to euro, in relation to U.S. dollars, and also to British pound, and therefore, the net financial was negative, and that influenced the net income.
Thank you. The joint venture for the new production facility in Kostrzyn is progressing as planned. Can you provide more details on the expected impact of this project on Arctic Paper's financial and its strategic importance?
Sure.
Our molded pulp trays plant will be ready by the end of this year, and we expect it to bring approximately EUR 20 million in EBITDA per year. This is in line with our strategy. This is a very important segment of our operations, and as you notice on the previous slides, this is where we plan to invest.
I would like to make comment additional. This is the first phase of our packaging strategy. It was mentioned by Katarzyna, we expect to have additional EBITDA by SEK 60 million per year, and it will be close to 100 million pieces per year. Please point out that we have a significant benefits regarding the location. The plant is located exactly on the Polish-German border, and close to 70% of our production will be dedicated for the German-speaking countries. It means that, we have a benefits regarding lower logistic cost. The packaging product, like, like molded pulp trays, are very light. The full truck is roughly 6-7 tons, compared to the normal, full load of 24 tons. It means that companies which are able to well-organize and to well-manage regarding logistic cost, they have a benefits.
Already by the end of next year, when we'll be able to make some kind of evaluation of the result, we are open to discuss and to invest in the next step. I think that location is perfect. We have a good product. The experience of the Rottneros packaging, which was collected during the last 10 years, give us a great value that we'll be able significant and strong player in Europe.
Thank you so much. You mentioned in the report that the recovery in key European markets has been slow. What are your expectations for market recovery in the coming quarters, and what indicators are you monitoring to adjust your strategy accordingly?
I think that, Q3 could be similar to Q2. We are still in the holiday season. Now, it is the last days of the holiday period in Sweden. South of Europe is already started the holiday month. It means that probably end of this month, we should expect significant improvement regarding order, regarding the business activities. And as I mentioned, we are so dependent on Germany, and, I'm not so expecting any big, changes regarding German economy with the next, three months. Let's see what will happen after the new, regional election in October, but, my expectation is that since, Q4 should be significant better compared to the summer period.
Thank you so much. And you mentioned here that you think this will go on in Q3. And how do you anticipate these conditions will affect Arctic Paper's performance?
From one side, we will have some benefits regarding stabilization of the pulp cost. For the paper segment, the pulp cost is the most important factor, and we already noticed in Q2, end of Q2, beginning of Q3, stabilization, and then during the last two weeks, we already see drop of the pulp prices. Of course, it has some time difference, because normally, the drop of the market prices will affect our segment in roughly one month or one and a half months perspective. That this is, this impact regarding lower of pulp prices for the paper production will give us some benefits in September and October.
Thank you. That was all the questions that were sent to us today. I thank you all for presenting, and thank you all for tuning in, and I wish you a good week here.
Thank you very much. All the best. Bye.
Thank you very much!