Kemira Oyj's Half-Year Financial Report 2026: Profitability weakened by cost inflation, performance improvement measures continue

Kemira Oyj, Stock Exchange Release, July 17, 2026 at 8.30 am (EEST)

This is a summary of Kemira's January–June 2026 Interim Report. The complete report with the tables is attached to this release and available at kemira.com/investors.

Q2 2026 performance

•       Revenue was stable, amounting to EUR 693.0 million (693.4), mainly due to acquisitions. Revenue in local currencies, excluding acquisitions and divestments, decreased by 2%.

•       Revenue increased year-on-year in Water Solutions, remained stable in Packaging & Hygiene Solutions and decreased in Fiber Essentials.

•       Sales prices decreased year-on-year, while volumes remained stable. Sequentially, sales volumes increased and prices remained stable.

•       Operative EBITDA decreased by 15%, to EUR 111.7 million (131.8). Operative EBITDA margin was 16.1% (19.0%). The decrease resulted mainly from cost inflation caused by the Iran war and from lower prices.

•       Operative EBITDA margin declined to 17.4% in Water Solutions (22.9%), improved to 11.6% in Packaging & Hygiene Solutions (9.9%) and declined to 21.4% in Fiber Essentials (25.9%). 

•       EBITDA was EUR 109.3 million (129.4) and EBITDA margin was 15.8% (18.7%).

•       Operative EBIT decreased by 31%, to EUR 57.9 million (83.4). Operative EBIT margin was 8.4% (12.0%).

•       EBIT decreased by 31%, to EUR 55.5 million (80.8).

•       Cash flow from operating activities declined to EUR 59.2 million (63.8).

•       EPS (diluted) was EUR 0.23 (0.35).

January–June 2026 performance

•       Revenue decreased by 2%, to EUR 1,370.3 million (1,402.2). Revenue in local currencies, excluding acquisitions and divestments, decreased by 2%.

•       Revenue increased year-on-year in Water Solutions and decreased in Packaging & Hygiene Solutions and in Fiber Essentials.

•       Sales prices declined year-on-year, while volumes remained stable.

•       Operative EBITDA decreased by 14%, to EUR 229.0 million (267.3), mainly driven by lower prices and by cost inflation. Operative EBITDA margin was 16.7% (19.1%).

•       Operative EBITDA margin declined to 17.9% in Water Solutions (22.2%), declined to 10.9% in Packaging & Hygiene Solutions (11.0%) and declined to 24.2% in Fiber Essentials (26.1%).

•       EBITDA was EUR 226.9 million (263.9) and EBITDA margin was 16.6% (18.8%).

•       Operative EBIT decreased by 27%, to EUR 123.3 million (169.1). Operative EBIT margin was 9.0% (12.1%).

•       EBIT decreased by 27%to EUR 121.2 million (165.5).

•       Cash flow from operating activities increased to EUR 150.9 million (118.9).

•       EPS (diluted) was EUR 0.52 (0.73).

Outlook for 2026 (updated on June 10, 2026)

REVENUE
Kemira's revenue is expected to be between EUR 2,600 and EUR 3,000 million in 2026 (2025 revenue: EUR 2,753.5 million).

OPERATIVE EBITDA
Kemira's operative EBITDA is expected to be between EUR 400 and EUR 500 million in 2026 (2025 operative EBITDA: EUR 524.6 million).

ASSUMPTIONS BEHIND THE OUTLOOK (SPECIFIED)
The demand in Kemira's end-markets remains weak due to continued global economic uncertainty and geopolitical tensions, and raw material and logistics cost environment continues to be volatile. The outlook assumes that the negative impact of raw material and logistics cost inflation on Kemira's full-year 2026 cost base is around EUR 100 million, of which roughly 50% will be covered by price increases. The outlook assumes no major disruptions to Kemira’s manufacturing operations or the supply chain and the US dollar to remain steady.

PREVIOUS ASSUMPTIONS BEHIND THE OUTLOOK (PUBLISHED ON JUNE 10, 2026)
The demand in Kemira's end-markets remains weak due to continued global economic uncertainty and geopolitical tensions. The outlook assumes no significant further increases in raw material costs, including oil derivatives, and logistics costs. The outlook assumes no major disruptions to Kemira’s manufacturing operations or the supply chain and the US dollar to remain steady.

Kemira’s President & CEO, Antti Salminen:

"In Q2, Kemira’s operating environment continued to be challenging. While our revenue remained at the previous year’s level thanks to M&A driven volume growth, our profitability suffered from the increased raw material and logistics costs resulting from the Iran war. As a consequence our operative EBITDA margin declined to 16.1%, which is clearly below our target level. We have taken measures to mitigate the impacts of the slow current demand and the increased cost base, to ensure our competitiveness in a volatile and soft market, and we expect to bring our profitability back on track.

In the second quarter, Kemira’s market environment continued to be affected by the uncertainty in the global economy. The uncertainty has led to lower demand, particularly in our packaging, pulp and industrial water business, while the demand in our urban water business has remained rather stable.

Despite the weaker market conditions when compared to a year ago, our Q2 revenue was stable, mainly thanks to acquisitions. Our operative EBITDA margin declined to 16.1%, primarily due to the cost inflation caused by the Iran war.

In Water Solutions, revenue grew from the previous year, mainly driven by acquisitions. However, the operative EBITDA margin declined to 17.4% as a result of increased costs. The impact of the customer price increases will materialize with a delay as the majority of the Water Solutions customer contracts are fixed. In Packaging & Hygiene Solutions, revenue remained stable relative to a year ago, mainly due to volume growth. The operative EBITDA margin increased to 11.6% from the previous year’s weak comparison period, primarily driven by cost savings resulting from our operating model change at the beginning of the year and by volume growth. Our performance in APAC, particularly China, has been disappointing, and we are accelerating our profitability improvement initiatives there. In Fiber Essentials, the Nordic pulp market remains subdued and revenue decreased year-on-year driven by weaker demand conditions. We saw decline in both bleaching and base chemicals. The operative EBITDA margin weakened to 21.4%, following lower volumes and prices.

In the second quarter, our focus was particularly on Kemira’s short-term competitiveness in the volatile raw material environment. We have implemented price increases across our product portfolio to mitigate the effects of cost inflation and have taken further actions to save costs throughout the entire organization. In Q2, we reduced more than 130 positions globally, this is expected to generate an annualized cost saving of EUR 15 million.

As the impact of the customer price increases comes with a delay and will be significantly less than what we initially estimated due to the market weakness in our key customer industries, we updated our outlook last month and issued a profit warning. We now reiterate the updated financial outlook for the year and expect our 2026 revenue to be between EUR 2,600 million and EUR 3,000 million and our 2026 operative EBITDA to be between EUR 400 million and EUR 500 million. Our current estimate for the full-year 2026 negative raw material and logistics cost impact is around EUR 100 million, roughly 50% of which is expected to be covered by price increases.

Despite the current headwinds, the long-term demand drivers for our business remain unchanged and we continue to invest in Kemira’s growth. In Q2, we strengthened our industrial water treatment services business by acquiring the business and related assets of Clear Water Technologies, LLC, in the US. While we continue to execute our growth strategy, we also continuously drive operational and cost-efficiency to ensure Kemira’s competitiveness in the current volatile market environment."

KEY FIGURES AND RATIOS

*12-month rolling average

Unless otherwise stated, all comparisons in this report are made to the corresponding period in 2025.

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 the attached 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 an annual organic growth rate of over 4%, to maintain an operative EBITDA margin within the range of 18–21% and to maintain operative ROCE above 16%.

Financial reporting schedule 2026
Interim report January-September 2026   October 23, 2026
 

Webcast and conference call for analysts, investors and media

Kemira will arrange a webcast for analysts, investors and the media on Friday, July 17, 2026, starting at 10.00 am EET (8.00 am UK time). During the webcast, Kemira’s President & CEO Antti Salminen and CFO Tuomas Mäkipeska will present results. The webcast will be held in English and can be followed at kemira.com/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/q2-2026/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 a global leader in sustainable chemistry for water-intensive industries. We operate globally and serve a wide range of customers including municipal and industrial water treatment companies and the fiber industry. Our solutions and services help secure clean water for millions of people every day and support our customers in advancing circularity and responsible resource use throughout their value chains. In 2025, Kemira’s revenue totaled EUR 2.8 billion, and we employed approximately 4,900 people. Kemira’s shares are listed on Nasdaq Helsinki (symbol: KEMIRA) www.kemira.com