Very strong performance of Boryszew Group in the first year of the pandemic

In 2020, despite the global economic slowdown caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, Boryszew Group generated very good results in all segments of its activity. On the consolidated level, FY 2020 revenues of over PLN 5.6 billion were recorded, with the FY 2020 EBITDA of PLN 249 million (including one-off events). The consolidated net profit amounted to PLN 281 million.

In the fourth quarter of 2020, Boryszew Group’s revenues reached PLN 1.3 billion, with the EBITDA of PLN 132 million. The last quarter of the previous year closed with a net profit of PLN 396 million, which was mainly attributable to the sale of assets of Aluminium Impexmetal Konin S.A.

Boryszew Group, owing to diversification of its business into three highly varied segments – Automotive, Metals, Chemicals – proved resilient to the challenges of COVID-19, despite the production shutdown in the Automotive Segment during the first lockdown.

The onset of the pandemic led to an almost complete production shutdown in the Automotive Segment, which occurred due to the plant closure at the Group’s key customers and lasted approximately 6 weeks. The following quarters saw a rebound, with sales revenues in Q4 2020 up nearly 11% compared to Q4 2019, while Q4 2020 EBITDA – despite write-downs on unprofitable contracts – reached zero vs PLN -11 million in Q4 2019. In this segment of Boryszew Group’s business, FY 2020 revenues amounted to PLN 1.6 billion, while FY 2020 EBITDA reached PLN 32.7 million.

“In the fourth quarter of 2020, the automotive industry returned to pre-pandemic levels, which allows us to look optimistically into the next quarters for this Segment. The last few months were an intense period in which we worked to further improve the Segment’s efficiency and minimize the COVID-19 impact. We managed to persuade key OEMs to commence price renegotiations. Also, we prepared a recovery plan for the Boryszew Automotive Plastic (BAP) Group, where some unprofitable contracts were identified. The realization of these contracts will be significantly reduced, which led to one-off event write-downs for nearly PLN 16 million,” said Andrzej Juszczyński, CFO and Vice-President of The Management Board, Boryszew S.A.

In December 2020, Boryszew Group’s two main Automotive Segment groups – Maflow and BAP – were merged under common management, although formally they do not constitute one structure.

An important event in the Metals Segment was the sale of Impexmetal Aluminium Konin S.A. on 6 November 2020. Following the sale of this asset, Boryszew Group remains an important player in the aluminium sector with an annual production capacity of 60,000 tonnes. Despite the sale of Aluminium Konin, FY 2020 revenues in the Metals Segment reached PLN 3.7 billion, while FY 2020 EBITDA stood at PLN 253.2 million. The remaining elements of the Metals Segment (Alchemia, FŁT, Baterpol and ZUO) made a significant contribution to the increase in the Segment’s revenue and EBITDA.

“Reduced delivery times in the supply chain and, even more importantly, the certainty of components supplies proved to be crucial in 2020. And we observe a continuation of this trend in 2021. That’s why sourcing products in Poland has generally become more secure, and consequently domestic manufacturers have gained in importance. Not so long ago, a big price competition for our plants in the Metals Segment was China, now our customers are willing to pay more to be sure that their order will arrive on time,” Andrzej Juszczyński added.

Boryszew Group’s Chemicals Segment’s results in the fourth quarter of 2020 were greatly impacted by increased sales of de-icing fluids and plasticisers. Stronger market position, thanks to a stable and well-established distribution network, allowed the Segment to generate FY 2020 revenues of PLN 208 million, with the FY 2020 EBITDA of PLN 22.4 million.

For Boryszew, the year 2021 will be a time of investment and continuation of R&D projects, mainly in the Automotive and Chemicals segments. Based on the analysis of current trends and the business environment, the Group will adjust its business profile and organizational structure to maximize the use of resources and synergy effects, and ultimately to generate profits. On 27 April 2021, the Company decided to sell the wind farm company EW Rywałd Spółka z o.o. for EUR 11 million.

“As a Group, we want to invest in assets with the best rate of return. A very attractive offer for EW Rywałd appeared on the horizon and we decided to take advantage of it. The sale of our wind farm project generated a high profit that we will re-invest in the Group’s strategic sectors,” said Mikołaj Budzanowski, Member of the Management Board, Chief Innovation Officer, Boryszew S.A.