Pmv Adaptive Risk Parity ETF Price & Performance (ARP)

Let's start with a short summary of numbers. These are the preliminary Q4 results for the Arctic Paper Group. In Q4, as in the rest of previous year, we have experienced the difficult overall macroeconomic situation in Europe. Therefore, the results are a little bit lower in comparison to the previous year. In terms of net sales, it was eight ten million published slots in comparison to eight twenty five in the same quarter of the previous year. One of the impacts of that was a low volume of salt pulp. In our pulp segment. On the other hand, even though we sell sold a little bit more of [indiscernible] the prices were slightly lower in comparison to through the same quarter of previous year. In terms of EBITDA, in Q4, we reached close to 39,000,000 of EBITDA, which is significantly lower than Q4 of twenty twenty three. And apart from the reasons of that I mentioned before in lower net sales, we have also experienced high prices of our raw materials. It was both high prices of pulp for the paper segment, which was almost for the full year, it started dropping in the second last quarter only. Whereas in the pulp segment, we experienced very high prices of wood.

In terms of net debt to EBITDA, we are still on a low safe level. If we go to the summary of results for the entire year 02/2024, The net sales was also slightly lower in comparison to to the year 2023, and we reached the EBITDA of close to PL300 million. The reasons for this lower EBITDA in comparison to previous period was more or less the same that I mentioned when describing Q4. If we compare the split of EBITDA between our main segments, which is pulp and paper, the ratio percentage was more or less the same but the numbers were lower. As I mentioned before, we still have very good stable financial situation with flow net debt to a BTA level. Mihal will now present the segments.

It was quite challenging year for pulp and paper sectors.

Especially from the paper's perspective. We noticed that we were able to implement more aggressive price policy to grab more volume and we were able to produce up 17% more paper compared to last year, but still was a little bit below 500,000 tons. We have beginning of the year quite stable paper prices. And on the second part of the year, especially in Germany, We noticed drop, which was a result of the more cold petitbit and price aggressive policy implemented by us as well by our competitors. For the entire 2024, the capitalization rates for the paper mills was around 75% which was 70% higher compared to 2023. Total production and total sale of the Paper segment was 485,000 thousand. Still, we have the same product portfolio, still we have the same structure of the clients and and graphic expectations. We are still the biggest producer of the high quality [indiscernible] which represents close to 70% of the European market share. We are the biggest and the main production is located in Sweden in Munkenhaus. Then even there was a small decrease regarding consumption of the coated grades, We have quite stable volume and year by year our market is growing in Europe.

About 0.5% per year. Today, we are close to 8%. Compared to [indiscernible] No big changes regarding the market. Still, Europe is by far the biggest market for us. And the biggest market for us is also Germany. Which represents for the last year 21%. In the past, it was even higher. But due to the fact that for the last two years, German economy is in the under significant pressure we noticed a drop of the demand from German market, especially German printing industry. The second big market in Poland then U. K, Central Europe, and The Nordics. No big changes regarding the product portfolio, no big changes regarding the brands still or customer portfolio consists of big players like printing houses in Europe, merchants and publishers. Also the premium grades are dedicated for the brand owners And also, we have a lot of contacts by Agisys and all paper is used for the printing materials. Pulp segment was under the significant pressure regarding the pulp prices. Today, pulp wood prices in Scandinavia, especially in Sweden, are the more expensive across Europe. And today prices are either double or even more than double compared with the prices which was four or five years ago.

Still, the demand is very high. And it's a big challenge to maintain profitability on the pulp segment, not only for us, but for all pulp mills in the North Part Of Europe. Seems that for the last year, we noticed quite stable situation regarding long fiber. And was mainly due to the fact that Scandinavia and pulp producer were under pressure regarding the high wood cost was a little bit different situation regarding the short fiber. Mainly the producers from Latin America they were able to implement more aggressive strategy and to sell more Still China was under the pressure regarding the challenges for the volume, But new capacities, which was already open in the last year in Latin America. Give us a chance to be much more efficient regarding that. Then it's quite important to emphasize regarding structure of O. Clients regarding the power segment. Unfortunately, the new growing segment like filters automotive, for ventilation business and as well for the Arctic technical application like transformers are growing. And is altogether close to 50%. Dropping demand for the printing industry and a very stable for tissue business. We have several projects regarding packaging business. For the packaging paper produced on our paper mills, we have quite stable volume, which is roughly 12,000 to 15,000 tons per year.

And our main project, this joint venture with Rotman's Packaging, to establish and to open the new molded fiber trace. Plant in Poland is on the final phase, We are already making a test and the full speed is expected by the end of Q1 beginning of Q2. A lot of happens in our power segment. All businesses connected with high energy consumption of the electrical energy and steam And we are trying to be also the part of this energy transformation. Already 2024, was the year that we are growing the organic energy percentage, green energy. More than 70% of the total energy consumed by all five mills, came from the non fossil sources. 20% is related to the natural gas and 10% as a thermal incineration of the waste material. Today, the structure of the powerplugs consists of the CHP power plant in Poland based on the local gas, Then we have already PV installation in Poland and in Sweden. We have the thermal waste installation installation in Sweden in Monkados. Hydro turbines and biomass boilers in the pulp and paper mills in Sweden. Still, we are growing regarding the energy generation. This year, the ongoing projects are focused mainly on the finalization of this 10 megawatts PV installation in Poland And also, we are quite Arctic looking for the new PV project for acquisition.

Already in December. We did a first acquisition to buy four megawatts installation in the middle of Poland. Then by October, this big project, which is connected with the energy setup for the Griggspo, [indiscernible] Will be completed and it consists of two elements. First of all, modernization of the biomass border, and as well to start wood pulp production line. The expected output in 2026 from the line will be up to 50,000 tonne of pellets. And this pellets will be mainly the for the customers in Germany and France. We are also active regarding energy storage system, already one product in the has been completed. Now we are on the preparation of Phase II project in another location in Sweden. And also one energy storage system will be installed close to one of the existing PV installation in Poland. It means by the mid of this year, our total PP installation will exceed over 30 megawatts. And probably by the next two years, we will over exceed 50 megawatts.

If we come back again to the financial performance and look at the EBITDA evolution for the past years, We can see that we are trying to stabilize financial results in medium and long term between the segments. And we can see that the percentage or the share of our pulp and paper result is being more and more stable. And the results EBITDA that we achieved in 2024, which was close to 300,000,000 was above the levels before 2021, even this in that at that time, so before 2021, our capacity utilization utilization was very often more than 90%. Now, as mentioned in the previous slide, it was approximately 75% and still we are able to gain quite a good [indiscernible] Our financial position is still very strong. We have a very safe position as regards to cash. And net debt to EBITDA is close to zero. In 2024, we were realizing very ambitious investment plan. And as you can see here, over 35% of our capital expenditures in 2024 was for our new segments, which was Power and Packaging. And this way, we are proving that this is the right path to execute our four P strategy. Arctic is a stable company.

Arctic is a solid company. And also we would like to be in line with our dividend policy, have already been published three years ago. Our dividend policy consists at between 20% to 40% of the net profit should be dedicated for the shareholders. Already yesterday, the management of the company decided to propose to the AGM that 30% of the net profit, which was achieved in 2024, will be distributed among shareholders as a dividend. It means that we would like to propose $0.7 per share as a dividend. The yield is close to 5%, which I think is quite okay compared to our peers, especially in Finland or in Sweden. 2025 will be probably also the challenging year. I have a big concern regarding the growth of the European economy. It's quite difficult to see when. The positive signals will be received. Germany has an election in next four days. Let's see what will be the outcome. Probably, the first six months of 2025 will be difficult, and we are expecting significant changes and improvement of the of the economy on the second part of the year. This year, we're also expecting some kind of stability regarding the prices.

For raw materials. And for final product. And also we expect some kind of improvement regarding availability of raw materials, especially some improvement on the drop of the [indiscernible] prices in Sweden would help us to improve the results on the pulp segment. And a lot of discussion is currently on the Brussels level how to help a European economy. To be in more competitive on long term perspective. One of the element is that definitely several declarations, which was included in the Green Hill, has to be rediscussed and reconstructed. And we also expect some positive things for us, especially regarding the broadcast the number of papers, number of regulation is definitely by far too complicated for Libra business. And this competitive compass, what was already initiated by Ursula von der Mayer during her speech in doubles two weeks ago, create some kind of expectation from the Eurofant business. Quite difficult to predict what could happen due to a new administration in U. S. There are some discussion about implementation of the 10% even to 20% tariffs for the import from Europe to U. S. So far, it's unclear it will be only connected with the several products or only for all export connected Today, it's normally connected with steel and aluminum.

Let's see if there would be some chances regarding the automotive business or for another product. Then 2025 will be also the year that we capital expenditures. We would like to continue to complete on our ongoing projects, which are mainly related to our four piece strategy, some improvement regarding efficiency on the pulp and paper mills, And our main focus is to maintain strong balance and strong cash flow. It seems that during the $2,000,000,000 time, probably 2025 will be also the $2,000,000,000 time, the companies which have a strong balance and strong cash flow situation will be much better. I think that we are very silent we are well prepared from one side for the two Bullenheim but as well the project which we already completed and with a project which are ongoing to be completed this year and beginning of next year, will create a better future for the company. Thank you very much. [indiscernible] that presentation. And let's dive into the Q and A section here.

Given the ongoing challenges with rising raw material costs, how do you plan to manage the pressure on margins in both the paper and pulp segments And do you foresee any structural changes to mitigate these cost fluctuations?

Cost is also connected regarding the total business climate changes. And regarding the wood prices, definitely the shortage of wood in the Scandinavia compared to the demand pushed the prices for the very high level. As I mentioned, today prices for timber, today prices for the pulpwood, are two or even sometimes three times more expensive versus it was four, five years ago. Without CDPICAD changes on this sector, it will be quite difficult to maintain competitiveness position of Scandinavian fiber based producers. And fortunately, there is no plans to increase new capacity on the long fiber. Fortunately, still the long fiber is a key element to produce high quality paper, high quality packaging. And then of course, no plans regarding new paper mills or paper lines or packaging. I think that since two years, we have some kind of overcapacity. And even some companies are announcing plans to reduce capacity to stop the production line to make some kind of balance. We as an Arctic, we have no plan to increase our capacity. Our investment are mainly related to the new growing sector like [indiscernible] And the projects which are related to the existing two main sectors, we have pulp and paper, are mainly to maintain the high quality products to improve efficiency and to reduce energy consumption.

Thank you for that answer. You mentioned a strong market position in coated fine paper. And stable performance in uncoated paper. How do you plan to maintain or grow market share in these segments? Especially in light of increasing competition and shifting market dynamics.

There's some difference between uncoated and coated segments. In Europe, [indiscernible] five biggest copper producer represents more than 85% of the capacity. Which is totally opposite to the uncoated. On uncoated, even the five biggest are not representing not exceeding even 30% of the capacity. It means that it's much better to have some kind of stabilization. Of course, I see some first signal regarding flow of the product from Asia to Europe. Already some kind of discussion regarding BAR tariff barriers and duties for the import of Chinese paper is already implemented. Now we see more import, more flow of the paper from Korea. And also from Indonesia. And it seems that definitely but it seems that by definitely that increasing competitiveness of European producers, the only way to survive. We as a European producer, we have to meet several several limitations, several rules, which are not implemented for which are located outside of Europe. And I hope that this reduction of bureaucracy barrier help us to survive. Next year, some kind of special regulation, which was already implemented by EU, like Seabao system and other will be implemented. To improve and to avoid the situation regarding that paper, which is not produced or product, which are not produced in in line with environment standards, we've come to to Europe and we'll make some problems for import producers.

In the next eighteen months, this is the time for the EU Commission definite to create a new frame, much better business condition for Upland in an industry. Otherwise, we as a Europe industry, we have much bigger problem after 2027.

And EBITDA for the Paper segment decreased significantly compared to the previous year What actions are you taking to strengthen profitability in this segment? Particularly in the challenging German market?

Last year, we were sorry, two years ago, our focus was to maintain margin and to be able to flexible accept even market rate that stops. 2024, we decided to be more flexible regarding the prices. And even the volume was higher of 70%. This year, we also we would like to continue the success story to be very efficient and flex [indiscernible] to increase at least by 15%. By still trying to maintain our market position Still, several projects are related to reduce our energy consumption and to improve efficiency. This combination of this flexible sales policy and step by step gradual improvement of efficiency I think this is the best way to create long term competitive position of Arctic towards the rest of the market.

Roto Rose has invested in new production capacities and increased efficiency. How will these investments impact results in the short and also long term.

Of course, 2024 was the year to execute the project and then complete it. And 2025 is the year that we would like to launch this additional volume on the market. CTMP, the mechanical hub is more dedicated for the packaging business. And I see that Packaging business is has some first signal of recovery, which is not in line like for the Paper segment. That I'm pretty sure that we will be able to allocate this additional volume European market.

But there are also some signal that markets outside of Europe are interested to use this mechanical pulp as well.

Arctic Paper has invested in Arctic fiber packaging, which is expected to have significant environmental benefits. How do you assess the long term potential for this market and also the competitive landscape?

We have a strong commitment regarding this environment approach. We as a part of the bioeconomy sector, we see a lot of opportunities for us to develop the growing market. Green packaging, are growing in Europe, Even few days ago, it was in some decision in America to withdraw with some limitation and go back to [indiscernible] I think that Europe has a much more stronger and long term approach to be more environment friendly. Our project in question is ready to allow the full production. And also we are willing to make it a [indiscernible] or we are considering for another location because we strongly believe that that trend in Europe go out from Arctic, but to be more environment friendly to the recycled with packaging, will continue despite the current turbulent time in New America.

And you've also invested in solar energy and biofuels. Expecting over 30 megawatts of installed capacity by Mid Company? Of These Energy Projects From Our Perspective, The Key Element Is To Have A Stable Competitive And Enterprise. And Today, In Continental Europe, in Germany, in Poland, in France, even in France, when you have more than 70% energy produced from the nuclear, today's price is €145 per megawatt hour. This morning, the price in SA3 was €150 and SA2 €120 Of course, afternoon, the price is more stable and going down, but from our perspective, we would like to make a quite healthy energy mix to maintain our energy costs on the level between €35 to €45 And this significant benefit of keeping control of all energy sources, I think give us a big chance to stabilize our results.

I will take one final question here before wrapping up. Given your strong financial position What further cost savings and efficiencies do you plan to implement in your operations? Are there any specific areas that will be prioritized? Two ways three ways in fact. First of all, regarding efficiency. And we already changing the equipment. Even we have some project to use artificial intelligence to help us to define the problems to identify the the weak part of the process. Second, that we are still Arctic search for the cheaper raw material. And third way is to reduce energy consumption. As I mentioned, pulp and paper sectors is very energy intensive business. And each saving of, let's say, 0.35 megawatt hours per tonne of paper or tonne of pulp calculated by annual basis give us a big saving that three these three elements to be more efficient, to source cheaper raw materials and to reduce energy consumption. They are the optimal way to maintain our long term competitive position.

Okay. Thank you very much both for presenting today. And also answering all of our questions. And thank you everyone who follow this presentation with Arctic Paper. And I wish you all a great rest of the day. Thank you very much.

Thank you.