Sappi reports USD88 million for Q1 on tax gains

Sappi

Sappi in its financial report for q1 2017, reported 7% increase in EBITDA to USD208 million over last quarter record.

Profit for the period decreased from USD100 million to USD88 million due to a USD18 million positive after tax plantation fair value adjustment that occurred last year.

Its net finance costs for the quarter was USD24 million, a reduction from the USD25 million in the equivalent quarter last year. Earnings per share excluding special items were 17 US cents, a slight improvement over the 16 US cents generated in the equivalent quarter last year. Special items for the quarter resulted in a loss of USD3 million.

Net cash generated was USD20 million, compared to the USD90 million generated in the equivalent quarter last year. Capital expenditure of USD45 million was in line with the equivalent quarter last year. Its Net debt of USD1,329 million substantially lower than the USD1,652 million at the end of the equivalent quarter last year.

The group said it has repaid the 2017 USD400 million bonds utilising our existing cash resources. This will lower the ongoing net interest charge by approximately USD21 million per annum. Liquidity at quarter end comprised cash on hand of USD703 million and USD569 million available from undrawn committed revolving credit facilities.

Company Information

Sappi is a global diversified wood fibre company focused on providing graphic/printing papers, packaging and speciality papers, dissolving wood pulp as well as products in adjacent fields including nanocellulose and lignosulphonate to our direct and indirect customer base across more than 150 countries.

Our market-leading range of graphic paper products are used by printers in the production of books, brochures,magazines, catalogues, direct mail and many other print applications; quality packaging and speciality papers are used in the manufacture of such products as soup sachets, luxury carry bags, cosmetic and confectionery packaging, boxes for agricultural products for export, tissue wadding for household tissue products and casting release papers used by suppliers to the fashion, textiles, automobile and household industries; our dissolving wood pulp (specialised cellulose) products are used worldwide by converters to create viscose fibre for fashionable clothing and textiles, pharmaceutical products as well as a wide range of consumer and household products.

The wood and pulp needed for our products is either produced within Sappi or bought from accredited suppliers. Across the group, Sappi is close to ‘pulp neutral’, meaning that we sell almost as much pulp as we buy.

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