Company Announcement
No. 54/2021
Copenhagen, 4 November 2023
Interim report, 1 January – 30 September 2023
Scandinavian Tobacco Group A/S reports Q3 results in line with expectations and maintains full year guidance
For the third quarter of 2023 Scandinavian Tobacco Group delivered strong results against difficult 2020 comparisons. Organic net sales declined by 2% and organic EBITDA grew 1%. The results were driven by continued strong demand for handmade cigars in the US, a favourable market- and product mix, and synergies from the integration of Agio Cigars. Supply issues in Europe impacted net sales negatively in the third quarter.
Q3 Highlights
- Net sales were DKK 2,182 million (DKK 2,231 million) with -2.2% organic growth.
- EBITDA before special items was DKK 627 million (DKK 614 million) with 0.9% organic growth. The EBITDA margin was 28.7% (27.5%).
- Organic EBITDA growth is positively impacted by a DKK 31 million income from certain duty refunds in the US.
- Adjusted Earnings Per Share (EPS) were DKK 4.2 (DKK 4.0).
- Free cash flow before acquisitions was DKK 564 million (DKK 609 million).
- Return on Invested Capital was 12.9% (9.1%).
- In the first 9 months of 2023, net sales grew by 5.4% organically to DKK 6,221 million (DKK 6,084 million), and EBITDA before special items grew by 19.5% organically to DKK 1,759 million (DKK 1,429 million) with free cash flow before acquisitions stable at DKK 1,086 million (DKK 1,156 million).
CEO Niels Frederiksen: “We deliver strong quarterly performance in line with expectations and maintain the positive momentum we have had throughout 2020 and 2023. The combination of the integration of Agio Cigars, the growth in handmade cigars and our underlying transformation have significantly improved our performance and raised our earnings and margins levels. I remain proud and impressed with the way our organization has continued to deliver a strong performance throughout a challenging period”.
Based on the results for the first nine months of 2023 the financial outlook for the full year is unchanged:
- EBITDA: Organic growth in the range of 16%-20%
- Free cash flow before acquisitions: In the range of DKK 1.0-1.3 billion
- Adjusted Earnings Per Share >35% increase
For further information, please contact:
Investors: Torben Sand, Head of IR, phone +45 5084 7222 or [email protected]
Media: Simon Mehl Augustesen, Director of Group Communications, phone: +1 484-379-8725 or [email protected]
A conference call will be held on 4 November 2023 at 10.00 CEST. Dial-in information and an accompanying presentation will be available at investor.st-group.com around 09:00 CEST.
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