Semapa profits up 65% in Q1 to €42M

The Portuguese industrial conglomerate Semapa saw profits grow 65.3% in the first quarter of 2022 to €42 million largely on the back of an increase in paper prices in Europe.

The group, led by Ricardo Pires, states in a note to the stock market commission CMVM that it is “taking measures to avoid an escalation in costs”.
“The increase in paper paste costs, the general increase in energy prices, the rising costs of raw materials and logistics, coupled with an imbalance between supply and demand resulted in strong growth in the paper price index in Q1 of 2022 as a result, which boosted growth in business turnover for The Navigator Company” states the note.
In the first quarter of 2022, Navigator registered profits of €50.5 million, more than doubling the gains posted for the same period in 2021.
In the conglomerate’s cement business, Secil’s profits fell 19.7% to €7.5 million because of the negative effects from increased production costs, particularly because of rising energy costs as a consequence of the strong increase in fuel costs, and the inflationary trend seen across all economies as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine.
The company’s environmental business enjoyed profits of €2.4 million, up 17.6% like-for-like on 2021.
Semapa – Sociedade de Investimento e Gestão (English: Semapa – Investment and Management Company) is a Portuguese conglomerate holding company with interests in the cement, pulp and paper and environmental services sectors.
The company owns 76.7% of The Navigator Company, previously known as Portucel Soporcel, Europe’s largest producer of bleached eucalyptus kraft pulp. It also holds 51% of the Secil Group, a manufacturer of cement and its derivatives; and 100% of ETSA, a waste management firm involved in the collection, storage and treatment of animal by-products.
The company is listed on Euronext Lisbon stock exchange and is a constituent of the PSI 20 index.