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MONDI PLC - Half-year results for the six months ended 30 June 2020 (short form announcement)

Release Date: 06/08/2020 08:00
Code(s): MNP     PDF:  
Wrap Text
Half-year results for the six months ended 30 June 2020 (short form announcement)

Mondi plc
(Incorporated in England and Wales)
(Registered number: 6209386)
LEI: 213800LOZA69QFDC9N34

LSE share code: MNDI                           ISIN: GB00B1CRLC47
JSE share code: MNP

This announcement contains inside information.
6 August 2020


Half-year results for the six months ended 30 June 2020 (short form
announcement)
Highlights
-          Robust financial performance in a challenging environment
              o Underlying EBITDA of €738 million with margin of 21.4%
              o Profit before tax of €466 million
              o Basic underlying earnings of 73.0 euro cents per share
              o Cash generated from operations of €602 million
              o Return on capital employed of 17.1%
              o Strong balance sheet with 1.4 times net debt to 12-month trailing underlying EBITDA at 30 June 2020
-          Decisive and effective COVID-19 response
               o Priority to protect our people, serve our customers and support our communities and partners
               o Tight cost control
               o Postponed planned maintenance shuts to second half
               o Reduced 2020 capital investments, while maintaining our programme to deliver growth through the cycle
               o Further strengthened liquidity, including issuing a €750 million 8-year Eurobond
-          Resuming dividend payments in line with policy
              o 29.75 euro cents per share dividend relating to 2019 financial year declared
              o 19.00 euro cents per share 2020 interim ordinary dividend declared
-          Well positioned for recovery with resilient business model, cost-advantaged asset base, strong balance sheet
           and unique portfolio of sustainable packaging solutions


Financial summary
                                                                                                                   Six months          Six months
                                                                                                                        ended               ended
€ million, except for percentages and per share measures                                                         30 June 2020        30 June 2019         Change %

Group revenue                                                                                                        3,452               3,771                  (8)%
Underlying EBITDA (note 1)                                                                                             738                 894                 (17)%
Underlying operating profit (note 1)                                                                                   524                 679                 (23)%
Operating profit                                                                                                       518                 679                 (24)%
Profit before tax                                                                                                      466                 632                 (26)%

Basic underlying earnings per share (note 1) (euro cents)                                                              73.0               96.2                 (24)%
Basic earnings per share (euro cents)                                                                                  72.0               95.8                 (25)%
Basic headline earnings per share (note 1) (euro cents)                                                                71.6               95.6                 (25)%


Dividend relating to 2019 financial year per share (euro cents)                                                      29.75
Interim ordinary dividend per share (euro cents)                                                                     19.00               27.28                 (30)%


Cash generated from operations                                                                                         602                 737                 (18)%
Net debt (note 1)                                                                                                    2,039               2,358


Underlying EBITDA margin (note 1)                                                                                    21.4 %             23.7 %
                                                                                                                     17.1 %
Return on capital employed (note 1) (ROCE)                                                                                               23.2 %
Note:
1 The Group presents certain measures of financial performance, position or cash flows that are not defined or specified according to International Financial Reporting
  Standards (IFRS). These measures, referred to as Alternative Performance Measures (APMs), are defined at the end of the full announcement and where relevant,
  reconciled to IFRS measures in the notes to the condensed consolidated financial statements (see link to the full announcement below).



Andrew King, Mondi Group Chief Executive Officer, said:
"Mondi delivered a robust performance in the first half of 2020, with underlying EBITDA of €738 million. This reflects the
resilience of our business model, achieved despite starting the year with significantly lower average selling prices
across our key pulp and paper grades and the challenges brought by COVID-19.

We took decisive action in the early stages of the pandemic, moving quickly to safeguard our people, support our
communities and protect the profitability, liquidity and cash flow of the business while seeking to ensure we are well
placed to benefit when the recovery comes.

Sustainable packaging continues to be a long-term priority for our customers and wider society. As a leading producer
of both paper and flexible plastic-based packaging, we are in a unique position to support our customers’ environmental
goals with packaging that is sustainable by design adhering to our principle of paper where possible, plastic when
useful.

The Board recognises the importance of dividends to shareholders. Having delivered a robust trading performance in the
first half of the year and given our resilient business model and strong financial position, the Board has revisited the
decision taken in April to suspend the final 2019 dividend and is pleased to resume the payment of dividends.

The Board has declared a dividend of 29.75 euro cents per share relating to 2019. Together with the 2019 interim ordinary
dividend paid in September 2019, this results in a total dividend of 57.03 euro cents per share relating to the 2019
financial year, covered three times by 2019 underlying earnings per share. This is in line with our stated dividend policy
of targeting a cover range on average of two to three times underlying earnings over the business cycle. Furthermore,
the Board has declared a 2020 interim ordinary dividend of 19.00 euro cents per share, bringing the total dividend
declared to 48.75 euro cents per share.

Going into the second half of 2020, heightened macro-economic uncertainties remain. Pricing across our key pulp and
paper grades is below or in line with the average of the first half. Demand for packaging daily essentials remains robust
while we continue to see weakness in certain industrial end-uses. Uncoated fine paper order books have picked up from
the lows seen in the second quarter, albeit we do not expect a near-term recovery to pre-pandemic levels. We have
rescheduled planned mill maintenance shuts which will have an impact on the second half of the year.

We are confident that the Group will continue to demonstrate its resilience in the event of a prolonged macro-economic
downturn, while remaining well-positioned when the recovery takes place. This is underpinned by the Group's integrated
high-quality, cost-advantaged asset base, culture of continuous improvement, portfolio of sustainable packaging
solutions and the strategic flexibility offered by our strong cash generation and financial position.

I firmly believe that our embedded safety culture was key in facilitating a fast and effective response to protect our
people, communities and business partners during this pandemic. I am incredibly proud of how our teams have risen to
the challenge and my thanks go to my colleagues for their endurance, enterprise and ongoing commitment."



Dividend
The Board recognises the importance of dividends to shareholders. Having delivered a robust trading performance in the first half
of the year and given our resilient business model and strong financial position, the Board has revisited the decision taken in April
to suspend the final 2019 dividend and is pleased to resume the payment of dividends.

The Board has declared a dividend of 29.75 euro cents per share relating to 2019. Furthermore, the Board has declared a 2020
interim ordinary dividend of 19.00 euro cents per share. Both dividends, amounting to a total of 48.75 euro cents per share (total
of around €236 million), will be paid as interim dividends in accordance with the timetable shown below.

This decision is consistent with our stated cover policy, while ensuring we retain the optionality for further value accretive growth
provided by a strong financial position. Our dividend policy remains unchanged.

Last date to trade shares cum-dividend
JSE Limited                                                                                                  Tuesday 18 August 2020
London Stock Exchange                                                                                      Wednesday 19 August 2020
Shares commence trading ex-dividend
JSE Limited                                                                                                Wednesday 19 August 2020
London Stock Exchange                                                                                       Thursday 20 August 2020
Record date                                                                                                   Friday 21 August 2020
Last date for receipt of Dividend Reinvestment Plan (DRIP) elections by Central Securities
Depository Participants                                                                                     Thursday 27 August 2020
Last date for DRIP elections to UK Registrar and South African Transfer Secretaries:
South African Register                                                                                        Friday 28 August 2020
UK Register                                                                                                 Monday 7 September 2020
Payment Date                                                                                              Tuesday 29 September 2020
DRIP purchase settlement dates (subject to market conditions and the purchase of shares
in the open market):
UK Register                                                                                                 Thursday 1 October 2020
South African Register                                                                                        Monday 5 October 2020
Currency conversion dates
ZAR/euro                                                                                                     Thursday 6 August 2020
Euro/sterling                                                                                             Tuesday 15 September 2020

Share certificates on Mondi plc's South African register may not be dematerialised or rematerialised between Wednesday
19 August 2020 and Friday 21 August 2020, both dates inclusive, nor may transfers between the UK and South African registers
of Mondi plc take place between Wednesday 12 August 2020 and Friday 21 August 2020, both dates inclusive.
Information relating to the dividend tax to be withheld from Mondi plc shareholders on the South African branch register will be
announced separately, together with the ZAR/euro exchange rate to be applied, on or shortly after Thursday 6 August 2020.
The dividends will be paid from distributable reserves. For further information please see the full announcement (link below).



Short form announcement
This short form announcement is the responsibility of the directors. It is only a summary of the information contained in the full
announcement and does not contain full or complete details.

Any investment decision should be based on the full announcement accessible from Thursday, 6 August 2020, via the JSE link
below and also available on our website at www.mondigroup.com/en/investors/results-and-reports.
The full announcement is available at our registered office and our sponsor’s office for inspection, at no charge, during office
hours. Copies of the full announcement may also be requested by email: Investor.Relations@mondigroup.com
The JSE link is as follows: https://senspdf.jse.co.za/documents/2020/jse/isse/MNP/HY2020.pdf



Enquiries
Investors/analysts:
Clara Valera                                                     +44 193 282 6357
Mondi Group Head of Strategy and Investor Relations


Media:
Kerry Cooper                                                     +44 193 282 6323
Mondi Group Head of External Communication


Richard Mountain (FTI consulting)                                +44 790 968 4466

Conference call dial-in and webcast details
Please see below details for the conference call and webcast that will be held at 09:00 (UK) and 10:00 (CET/SA) today.
The conference call dial-in numbers are:
UK              0800 2796 619
South Africa    0800 014 552
Other           +44 2071 928 338
Conference ID 6253268
The webcast will be available via www.mondigroup.com/hyresults20
The presentation will be available to download from the above website around 30 minutes before the webcast commences.
Written questions can be submitted via the webcast. If you wish to ask a question verbally, please connect via the dial-in
conference call.

Should you have any issues on the day with accessing the dial-in conference call facility, please call +44 2071 928 338. For
queries regarding access to the webcast, please e-mail group.communication@mondigroup.com and you will be contacted as
soon as possible. A video recording of the presentation will be available on Mondi’s website during the afternoon of 6 August
2020.



Editors’ notes
Mondi is a global leader in packaging and paper, contributing to a better world by making innovative packaging and paper
solutions that are sustainable by design. Our business is fully integrated across the value chain – from managing forests and
producing pulp, paper and plastic films, to developing and manufacturing effective industrial and consumer packaging solutions.
Sustainability is at the centre of our strategy and intrinsic in the way we do business. We lead the industry with our customer-
centric approach, EcoSolutions, where we ask the right questions to find the most sustainable solution. In 2019, Mondi had
revenues of €7.27 billion and underlying EBITDA of €1.66 billion.

Mondi has a premium listing on the London Stock Exchange (MNDI), and a secondary listing on the JSE Limited (MNP). Mondi is
a FTSE 100 constituent, and has been included in the FTSE4Good Index Series since 2008 and the FTSE/JSE Responsible
Investment Index Series since 2007.

Sponsor in South Africa: UBS South Africa Proprietary Limited.

Date: 06-08-2020 08:00:00
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