Kemira Oyj, Interim Report, October 24, 2025 at 8.30 am (EEST)
Kemira Oyj's January-September 2025 Interim Report: Good profitability
maintained in a weakened market environment
This is a summary of the January-September 2025 Interim Report. The complete
report with the tables is attached to this release and available at
kemira.com/investors (https://www.kemira.com/company/investors/).
Q3 2025 performance
· Revenue decreased by 5%, to EUR 687.7 million (727.6). Revenue in local
currencies, excluding acquisitions and divestments, decreased by 3%
· Revenue declined in all three business units, mainly driven by market
softness and FX impact.
· Sales volumes declined year-on-year, while prices remained stable.
Sequentially, sales volumes increased.
· Operative EBITDA decreased by 7%, to EUR 137.3 million (147.4). Operative
EBITDA margin was 20.0% (20.3%).
· Operative EBITDA margin remained strong at 23.1% in Water Solutions (23.3%),
improved to 13.6% in Packaging & Hygiene Solutions (11.8%) and declined to 24.1%
in Fiber Essentials (28.2%).
· EBITDA was EUR 134.4 million (142.9) and EBITDA margin was 19.5% (19.6%).
· Operative EBIT decreased by 13%, to EUR 87.8 million (100.8). Operative EBIT
margin was 12.8% (13.9%).
· EBIT decreased by 12%, to EUR 84.9 million (96.3).
· Cash flow from operating activities was EUR 132.2 million (112.2).
· EPS (diluted) was EUR 0.38 (0.41).
January-September 2025 performance*
· Revenue decreased by 4%, to EUR 2,089.9 million (2,179.8*). Revenue in
local currencies, excluding acquisitions and divestments, decreased by 3%.
· Revenue declined in all three business units.
· Sales volumes and prices declined year-on-year.
· Operative EBITDA decreased by 9% to EUR 404.6 million (447.1*), mainly
driven by lower sales prices and currency impact. Operative EBITDA margin was
19.4% (20.5%*).
· Operative EBIT decreased by 17%to EUR 256.9 million (309.2*).
* Oil & Gas divestment adjusted
January-September 2025 reported performance (Including the Oil & Gas business in
2024)
· Revenue decreased by 6%, to EUR 2,089.9 million (2,224.3).
· Operative EBITDA decreased by 10%, to EUR 404.6 million (450.4). Operative
EBITDA margin was 19.4 (20.2 %).
· EBITDA was EUR 398.3 million (434.1) and EBITDA margin19.1% (19.5%).
· Operative EBIT decreased by 18%, to EUR 256.9 million (312.4).
· EBIT was EUR 250.4 million (296.2) and EBIT margin 12.0% (13.3%).
· Cash flow from operating activities was EUR 251.1 million (319.2).
· EPS (diluted) was EUR 1.10 (1.30).
The Oil & Gas divestment
Kemira divested its Oil & Gas (O&G) related portfolio on February 2, 2024. The
comparison period January-September 2024 includes around EUR 45 million of
revenue and around EUR 3 million of operative EBITDA from Oil & Gas in Q1 2024.
Kemira has presented the Oil & Gas divestment adjusted figures and performance
in the relevant parts of the report. The adjusted figures reflect the current
performance of Kemira's business units and Kemira's management follows the Oil &
Gas divestment adjusted figures.
Outlook for 2025 (unchanged)
REVENUE
Kemira's revenue is expected to be between EUR 2,700 and EUR 2,950 million in
2025 (reported 2024 revenue: EUR 2,948.1 million).
OPERATIVE EBITDA
Kemira's operative EBITDA is expected to be between EUR 510 and EUR 580 million
in 2025 (reported 2024 operative EBITDA: EUR 585.4 million).
ASSUMPTIONS BEHIND THE OUTLOOK
The continued global economic uncertainty is expected to result in softer volume
demand in Kemira's end-markets. The uncertainty is expected to impact the
packaging and pulp market in particular, while the water treatment market is
expected to grow in all regions. In a weaker macroeconomic setting, the raw
material environment is expected to remain rather stable as a whole. The outlook
assumes no major disruptions to Kemira's manufacturing operations, to the supply
chain or to Kemira's energy-generating assets in Finland. The outlook assumes
the US dollar to remain approximately on the same level as in the end of Q2
2025.
Kemira's President & CEO, Antti Salminen:
"In Q3, Kemira's operating environment remained similar to the previous
quarters. Demand slowness, especially in the pulp and paper industry, did not
work in our favor. That said, I am particularly pleased with our ability to
maintain a good profitability level despite the tough market environment.
As a result of the challenging demand conditions, Kemira's Q3 revenue declined
year-on-year, mainly driven by lower sales volumes and a negative FX impact.
Despite the decline, the operative EBITDA margin was strong at 20.0%, remaining
close to the previous year's level; this is a good achievement in the current
market environment.
Water Solutions continued to be Kemira's strong backbone in Q3. The demand
environment remained stable, particularly in the Urban water business. Although
both revenue and profitability somewhat declined from the previous year, the
operative EBITDA margin remained strong at 23.1%. In Packaging & Hygiene
Solutions, revenue declined year-on-year. The operative EBITDA margin improved
to 13.6%, primarily driven by the sales mix during the quarter and by effective
cost management. Our initiative to improve Packaging & Hygiene Solutions'
profitability continues. As a next step we are renewing the business unit's
operating model, to enhance customer focus, optimize cost-to-serve and to
further improve operational efficiency. In Fiber Essentials, revenue declined
year-on-year, mainly due to the sluggish market environment. Consequently, the
operative EBITDA margin declined to 24.1%.
We continued to execute our strategy in Q3. In September, we announced the
acquisition of Water Engineering, Inc., a US-based industrial water treatment
services company. The acquisition, which was completed last week, is a
significant strategic milestone for Kemira, enabling us to expand our Water
Solutions business into industrial water treatment services. It is also a good
example of the inorganic growth opportunities that we are looking for. Water
Engineering, Inc., brings us new expertise in boiler and cooling tower water
treatment formulations and a wide portfolio of other industrial water services.
The acquisition provides us with a solid platform for further expansion, both
organic and inorganic, in the industrial water treatment services sector.
In addition, we announced a partnership with CuspAI, a pioneering materials
science artificial intelligence company. The partnership aims to accelerate the
discovery and optimization of new materials and our first project is related to
the removal of PFAS from water. Our plan to build a reactivation plant for
activated carbon at our Helsingborg site in Sweden also received final
investment approval. The plant will be the first activated carbon reactivation
site in the Nordics and is expected to be operational during the second half of
2027.
As for the rest of the year, we do not see improvement in the market environment
in the packaging and pulp industry. In Water Solutions, the market environment
remains more stable although the volatility caused by general economic
uncertainty has increased in our Industrial water treatment business. We
reiterate our financial outlook for this year and expect our 2025 revenue to be
between EUR 2,700 million and EUR 2,950 million and our 2025 operative EBITDA to
be between EUR 510 million and EUR 580 million.
Although the market environment is expected to continue challenging in the
coming months, Kemira has a solid foundation for growth and future success. The
financial position of the company is strong, enabling our investments in long
-term growth. We have maintained our focus on operational excellence and
profitability and our commitment towards our strategy remains high. We continue
to work hard to execute on our strategic initiatives - expanding our water
business and innovating and developing renewable solutions - and delivering the
best for our customers."
KEY FIGURES AND RATIOS
EUR million Jul-Sep Jul-Sep Jan-Sep Jan-Sep Jan-Dec
2025 2024 2025 2024 2024
Revenue
687.7 727.6 2,089.9 2,224.3 2,948.1
Revenue, O&G
divestment 687.7 727.6 2,089.9 2,179.8 2,903.5
adjusted
Operative
EBITDA 137.3 147.4 404.6 450.4 585.4
Operative
EBITDA, O&G 137.3 147.4 404.6 447.1 582.1
divestment
adjusted
Operative
EBITDA, % 20.0 20.3 19.4 20.2 19.9
Operative
EBITDA %, O&G 20.0 20.3 19.4 20.5 20.0
divestment
adjusted
EBITDA
134.4 142.9 398.3 434.1 550.7
EBITDA, %
19.5 19.6 19.1 19.5 18.7
Operative EBIT
87.8 100.8 256.9 312.4 398.7
Operative EBIT,
O&G divestment 87.8 100.8 256.9 309.2 395.5
adjusted
Operative EBIT,
% 12.8 13.9 12.3 14.0 13.5
Operative EBIT
%, O&G 12.8 13.9 12.3 14.2 13.6
divestment
adjusted
EBIT
84.9 96.3 250.4 296.2 363.2
EBIT, %
12.3 13.2 12.0 13.3 12.3
Net profit for
the period 61.6 67.2 180.8 211.6 262.7
Earnings per
share, diluted, 0.38 0.41 1.10 1.30 1.61
EUR
Capital
employed* 1,923.9 1,963.2 1,923.9 1,963.2 1,920.1
Capital
employed*, O&G 1,923.9 1,911.4 1,923.9 1,911.4 1,920.1
divestment
adjusted
Operative
ROCE*, % 17.8 21.7 17.8 21.7 20.8
Operative ROCE,
%, O&G 17.8 21.6 17.8 21.6 20.6
divestment
adjusted
ROCE*, %
16.5 15.2 16.5 15.2 18.9
Cash flow from
operating 132.2 112.2 251.1 319.2 484.6
activities
Capital
expenditure 47.8 35.1 119.1 96.2 167.3
excl.
acquisition
Capital
Expenditure 47.8 35.1 119.1 96.2 167.3
excl.
Acquisitions,
O&G divestment
adjusted
Capital
expenditure 47.8 38.2 141.5 99.4 170.5
Cash flow after 316.3
investing 84.4 67.1 158.2 411.8
activities
Equity ratio, %
at period-end 55 54 55 54 53
Equity per
share, EUR 11.29 11.26 11.29 11.26 11.59
Gearing, % at
period-end 17 18 17 18 16
*12-month rolling average
Unless otherwise stated, all comparisons in this report are made to the
corresponding period in 2024.
Kemira provides certain financial performance measures (alternative performance
measures) that are not defined by IFRS. Kemira believes that alternative
performance measures followed by capital markets and by Kemira management, such
as revenue growth in local currencies, excluding acquisitions and divestments
(=organic growth), EBITDA, operative EBITDA, operative EBIT, cash flow after
investing activities and gearing provide useful information on Kemira's
comparable business performance and financial position. Selected alternative
performance measures are also used as performance criteria in remuneration.
Kemira's alternative performance measures should not be viewed in isolation from
the equivalent IFRS measures and alternative performance measures should be read
in conjunction with the most directly comparable IFRS measures. Definitions of
the alternative performance measures can be found in the definitions of the key
figures in this report, as well as at www.kemira.com > Investors > Financial
information. All the figures in this report have been individually rounded and
consequently the sum of the individual figures may deviate slightly from the
total figure presented.
Financial targets
Kemira has the following long-term financial targets to support its growth
strategy; Kemira's target is to achieve annual organic growth of over 4%, an
operative EBITDA margin of between 18-21% and operative ROCE of over 16%.
Financial reporting schedule 2025 and 2026
Financial Statements Bulletin for the year 2025
February 12, 2026
Interim report January-March
2026 April
24, 2026
Half-year financial report January-June 2026
July 17, 2026
Interim report January-September 2026
October 23, 2026
The Annual Report 2025 will be published during the week starting on February
16, 2026.
The Annual General Meeting is scheduled for Thursday, March 19, 2026.
Webcast and conference call for analysts, investors and media
Kemira will arrange a webcast for analysts, investors and the media on Friday,
October 24, 2025, starting at 10.30 am EEST (8.30 am UK time). During the
webcast, Kemira's President & CEO Antti Salminen and CFO Petri Castrén will
present results. The webcast will be held in English and can be followed at
kemira.com/investors (https://www.kemira.com/company/investors/). The
presentation material and a recording of the webcast will be available on the
above-mentioned company website.
You can attend the Q&A session via conference call. You can access the
teleconference by registering on the following link:
https://events.inderes.com/kemira/q3-2025/dial-in
After registration you will be provided with phone numbers and a conference ID
to access the conference. If you wish to ask a question please dial *5 on your
telephone keypad to enter the queue.
For more information, please contact:
Kemira Oyj
Kiira Fröberg, Vice President, Investor Relations
Tel. +358 40 760 4258
kiira.froberg@kemira.com
Kemira is the global leader in sustainable chemical solutions for water
-intensive industries. We deliver tailored products and services to improve the
product quality, processes, and resource efficiency of our diverse range of
customers. Our focus is on water treatment, as well as on fiber and renewable
solutions - enabling sustainability transformation for our customers. In 2024,
Kemira reported annual revenue of EUR 2.9 billion with a global team of some
4,700 colleagues. Kemira is listed on the Nasdaq Helsinki www.kemira.com