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Hydro’s rolling business has shown disappointing financial performance over the
last years. “We are taking forceful actions to improve our profitability”, says
Einar Glomnes, Executive Vice President Rolled Products.
The restructuring includes the planned closure of parts of the foil production
at Grevenbroich as well as efficiency measures across the organisation. “Our
cost position in parts of our foil business is too high, mainly due to manning
intensive and manual production processes, and we are also facing strong
competition in this market segment. As a consequence, we are planning to close
our foil mainline,” says Einar Glomnes. In September 2018, Hydro announced the
exit of the foil conversion business by December 31, 2019. These closures
combined represents approx. 30% of the overall foil production of Rolled
Products.
The total restructuring consists of a planned reduction of personnel cost of up
to EUR 60 million per year. This will lead to a redundancy of up to 735 full
time equivalents (FTEs). This number includes the FTE reduction of 226 employees
through the planned closure of the foil mainline by end of 2020 and 117 FTEs
through the exit of the conversion business by end of 2019. Efficiency measures
throughout all Rolled Products sites will close the gap up to 735 FTEs and is
planned to be delivered by 2024, with the majority by end of 2022. These
measures are necessary to reduce cost and improve profitability at Rolled
Products.
The total restructuring cost is around 160 MEUR, of which 100 to 120 MEUR will
be taken as a provision in Q3 2019. Parts of the manning reduction is dependent
on limited capital expenditure.
Rolled Products will further strengthen its focus on growth markets like the
automotive and can business, where Hydro has recently made significant
investments in the new Automotive Line 3 at Grevenbroich as well as a state-of-
the-art recycling facility for Used-Beverage-Cans in Neuss.
“Our products are well perceived by our customers. This feedback is rooted in
our high-quality products and product consistency as well as our secure supply
and timely deliveries. It is now on us, to turn our strength into better
results,” says Einar Glomnes.
On September 24, Hydro will host an Investor Day and provide more information on
the Rolled Products restructuring and strategic review.
Investor contacts
Stian Hasle
+47 97736022
Stian.Hasle@hydro.com
Press contact
Bjørn Skaar
+47 48171141
Bjorn.Skaar@hydro.com
Cautionary note
Certain statements included in this announcement contain forward-looking
information, including, without limitation, information relating to (a)
forecasts, projections and estimates, (b) statements of Hydro management
concerning plans, objectives and strategies, such as planned expansions,
investments, divestments, curtailments or other projects, © targeted
production volumes and costs, capacities or rates, start-up costs, cost
reductions and profit objectives, (d) various expectations about future
developments in Hydro’s markets, particularly prices, supply and demand and
competition, (e) results of operations, (f) margins, (g) growth rates, (h) risk
management, and (i) qualified statements such as “expected”, “scheduled”,
“targeted”, “planned”, “proposed”, “intended” or similar.
Although we believe that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking
statements are reasonable, these forward-looking statements are based on a
number of assumptions and forecasts that, by their nature, involve risk and
uncertainty. Various factors could cause our actual results to differ materially
from those projected in a forward-looking statement or affect the extent to
which a particular projection is realized. Factors that could cause these
differences include, but are not limited to: our continued ability to reposition
and restructure our upstream and downstream businesses; changes in availability
and cost of energy and raw materials; global supply and demand for aluminium and
aluminium products; world economic growth, including rates of inflation and
industrial production; changes in the relative value of currencies and the value
of commodity contracts; trends in Hydro’s key markets and competition; and
legislative, regulatory and political factors.
No assurance can be given that such expectations will prove to have been
correct. Hydro disclaims any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking
statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
This information is subject to the disclosure requirements pursuant to Section
5-12 the Norwegian Securities Trading Act
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