Altri profits fell 72% to €42.8 million in 2023
Paper paste producer Altri posted a €42.8 million net profit for 2023, a fall of 71.9% on the €152.5 million in 2022.
In a communiqué sent to the CMVM on Thursday the company said that total revenues stood at €788.2 million, down 26.1% on 2022 because of a “fall in prices”.
EBITDA was €137.3 million, down 54.4% on 2022, while the margin on EBITDA had been 17.4% according to the company led by José de Pina who runs the company, stating “in the fourth quarter there was an improvement on EBITDA margin to 21.3%, thanks to a recovery in demand, the higher price of fibre and a fall in variable costs.
In its 2023 financial report the company sates: “The level of demand has improved as a result of the strong recovery in the Asian market, leading to successive increases in prices”, adding that “holds out an improvement in profitability at the start of the year”.
Through Biotek, Caima and Celbi, the group produced 1.061 tonnes of cellulose fibre in 2023, down 7.1% on. 2022, “given lower demand in Europe and the optimisation of the group’s inventory”, it explains, adding that “despite the European market context — its main market — the total volume of cellulose fibre sales in 2023 was 1.081 thousand tonnes, a fall of 2.4 on 2022.
In the communiqué, the CEO of Altri, José Soares de Pina, states: “2023 was not a typical year in the cellulose fibres market”, as we experienced the quickest changes to the market cycle in more than a decade with a slowdown in the growth in demand because of a “destocking” process in Europe and the United States followed by an improvement in prospects as a result of a strong recovery in the Asian market”.
