Strong sales performance in high inflationary environment

May 18, 2022

Sales increase 36 percent in local currencies, driven by high volume demand and necessary sales price increases. Full-year sales growth outlook revised to 20-25 percent.

Highlights

  • Sales in Q1 2022 reached 924 MEUR, an increase of 36 percent in local currencies and 38 percent in reported figures compared to last year, driven by high volume demand and necessary sales price increases.

  • EBITDA in Q1 2022 reached 155 MEUR, an increase of 16 MEUR or 12 percent compared to Q1 2021. The EBITDA margin was 16.8 percent, down 3.9 percentage points from last year. As expected, high cost increases on production materials and energy were not fully compensated by sales price increases and cost actions in the quarter.

  • EBIT increased 14 percent to 102 MEUR in Q1 2022, with an 11.0 percent EBIT margin, down 2.3 percentage points from Q1 2021.

  • Investments excluding acquisitions reached 70 MEUR in the first quarter 2022, a decrease of 12 MEUR compared to Q1 2021.

  • Annualised return on invested capital reached 18 percent from 17 percent in Q1 2021.

  • As a consequence of the terrible war in Ukraine, all investments in Russia have been cancelled. ROCKWOOL in Russia is a stand-alone operation and continues conducting business to avoid nationalisation of our assets and loss of unique intellectual property.

Outlook 2022

  • Growth in net sales of 20-25 percent in local currencies.

  • EBIT margin around 13 percent.

  • Investment level around 425 MEUR excluding acquisitions.
“High demand and sales price increases drove double-digit revenue growth across almost all business units. While not materially affecting sales performance at this point, the terrible war in Ukraine and the challenging geopolitical situation are contributing to an already stressed global economy. Even with the price increases, the soaring energy, material, and logistics costs diluted margins in the first quarter. This will necessitate further price increases across the businesses. We expect to restore margins in the coming quarters”.

CEO Jens Birgersson