Current Report No.: 12/2021
Date of preparation: 22.04.2021
Abbreviated name of the Issuer: CIECH S.A.
Subject: Forecast of the CIECH Group's result in 2021.
Legal basis: Art. 17.1 of the MAR – inside information
Report:
The Management Board of CIECH S.A. (the “Issuer” or “Company”) is providing to the public its forecast of selected financial results of the CIECH Group in 2021 (the “Forecasted Results”).
The Forecasted Results were prepared after the end of a key period for the operations of the CIECH Group, i.e. the first quarter of 2021, which was the end, among others, of the contracting process for the CIECH Group's products for 2021. The Management Board of the Issuer forecasts that in 2021 the CIECH Group will generate:
1. consolidated sales revenues: between PLN 3.125 million and PLN 3.285 million; and
2. consolidated adjusted EBITDA: between PLN 700 million and PLN 735 million.
The forecast was prepared based on the current market, operational and financial situation of the CIECH Group.
The publication of the Forecasted Results is related to the CIECH Group’s implementation of the CIECH Group Strategy for 2019-2021 (the “Strategy”), which was adopted on 5 December 2018. The Issuer advised on the adoption of the Strategy in its Current Report No. 34/2018. The Strategy assumes that in 2021 the CIECH Group will attain the following financial goals (the “Financial Goals”):
1. sales revenues: over PLN 4.0 billion;
2. adjusted EBITDA: over PLN 900 million; and
3. adjusted EBITDA profitability: over 22%.
The Financial Goals will not be achieved in 2021, among others, due to the COVID-19 pandemic (the “Pandemic”), which started in March 2020 and has continued ever since and delayed the achievement of both financial and non-financial strategic goals, including the completion of the largest investment in the history of CIECH, i.e. the salt factory in Staßfurt in the originally planned time limit, namely by 1 January 2021.
The Financial Objectives will be adequately updated and postponed, and incorporated into the new strategy of the CIECH Group, which will be approved immediately after the situation related to the Pandemic ceases to be volatile and unpredictable.
The remaining strategic goals defined in the Strategy continue to be valid. The Issuer is consistently building a more effective and diversified chemical holding, generating positive value for its shareholders. The CIECH Group increases its competitive advantages in the key soda business, invests in the development of specialised businesses and enhances its value through changes in the asset portfolio, based on the following three pillars: customer orientation, innovation and improved efficiency. The CIECH Group builds a work environment in which the best employees are able to develop and create a culture of efficiency, and strengthens its position of a reliable partner of local communities while demonstrating responsibility for the natural environment.
In the event of a significant change in the possibility of achieving the Forecasted Results, the Management Board of the Issuer will provide such information to the public in the form of a current report.
Legal basis: Article 17.1 of the Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council (EU) No. 596/2014 of 16 April 2014 on Market Abuse (the Market Abuse Regulation) and repealing Directive 2003/6/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council and Commission Directives 2003/124/EC, 2003/125/EC and 2004/72/EC (Official Journal of the European Union L No. 173, p. 1).
Signatures of the Company’s representatives:
