Highlights
• Sibelco’s safety performance improved slightly in the first half of 2023. RIR (number of recordable injuries per million hours worked) was 2.0 compared to 2.1 for the full year 2022.
• Sibelco increased revenue by 9% to € 1,056 million, as price increases and a mix improvement due to growth in high purity quartz (HPQ) at Spruce Pine more than compensated for a single digit percentage sales volume decline.
• EBITDA increased by 22% to € 219 million, benefitting from a strong increase at Spruce Pine. Profitability in Europe also increased despite the lacklustre market, helped by a solid performance in glass recycling.
• Free operating cash flow was € 23 million, up on last year.
• Sibelco announced an investment of US$ 200 million to double production capacity in Spruce Pine (USA).
• Sibelco announced a lithium feldspar strategic investment in Avalon Advanced Materials (AVL), a Canadian company. As a result, Sibelco owns 19.9% of AVL. In addition, Sibelco and AVL will create a joint venture (Sibelco 60% share) for the production of lithium feldspar minerals for the technical glass and ceramics markets in which Sibelco has long-time expertise. The cumulative investment into AVL itself and the joint venture is expected to arrive at C$ 63 million over time. Sibelco acquired the remaining 76% of shares of Act & Sorb, a start-up company with a technology to recycle MDF wood waste into activated carbon for water and air treatment while generating green energy.
Commenting on the results, CEO Hilmar Rode said:
Sibelco delivered a strong H1 2023 performance with substantially higher revenue and EBITDA despite increasingly tough market conditions. The results are testimony to the successful implementation and ongoing refinement of our Sibelco 2025 strategy which has created a more responsive and resilient business model. We announced two exciting new strategic investments: the investment to double production capacity in Spruce Pine (USA) will strengthen Sibelco’s position as the world’s leading provider of high purity quartz for solar PV and semiconductors while the lithium feldspar investment in Avalon Advanced Materials (Canada) will enable us to establish a position in the fast-growing lithium market. We expect that conditions in many of our markets will deteriorate further during H2. Nevertheless, given our strong H1 results and momentum going into H2, we anticipate an increase in full year 2023 EBITDA compared to 2022.
Hilmar Rode
Sibelco CEO
