Corbion expects adjusted EBITDA margin of above 15% in 2021

Organically, the core business grew by 7% for the full year.

Corbion reported net sales of € 986.5 million in 2020. Organic net sales growth was 5.6% for the year. Adjusted EBITDA in 2020 increased organically by 13.4% to € 158.8 million. The company proposes to distribute a regular cash dividend of € 0.56 per share.

Olivier Rigaud, CEO, commented: “2020 has been a remarkable year. Following the presentation of our strategy, Advance 2025, in March, most of the world went into lockdown and our priorities became: safeguarding the health of our colleagues, securing supplies, and ensuring that our customers would continue to get their deliveries on time and in full. This resulted into a strong business performance: Organically, our core business grew by 7% for the full year - at the top end of our guidance range - and ended with very strong growth of 11% in Q4.

“The EBITDA margin development in 2020 was more favorable than initially forecast principally due to a significant decline in travel costs and a delay in the planned organizational expansion to meet future needs. Both were COVID-19 related. We are proud to have been awarded the highest CDP rating ‘A’ on climate change, confirming our commitment to more environmental transparency and action. I am very happy with the strong delivery and resilience of all our employees, and in recognition of their extraordinary performance, we have awarded them an additional one-off bonus in Q4. Although COVID-19 remains a significant factor of uncertainty, given our growth dynamic, combined with an improved pipeline, we look confidently towards the future.”

Speaking on the outlook 2021, Rigaud said that Corbion enters 2021 with confidence given the growth dynamic in 2020 and the current sales pipeline. “For our core business, we expect an organic sales growth rate towards the higher end of the 4- 7% guidance range… We anticipate an Adjusted EBITDA margin of above 15% for our core activities in 2021. 2021 will be the start of a multi-year phase of substantially higher capex spending to support both existing and anticipated business opportunities, particularly for lactic acid (derivatives). Inaddition to the investment in a new 125kt lactic acid plant in Thailand (which has already been announced), we will debottleneck our existing lactic acid capacity at various locations (total program capex 2021-2022: € 65 million for 50kt additional capacity). The total estimated capital expenditure for 2021 is € 165-180 million, in line with our Advance 2025 strategy,” he added.