Renewi plc: Half-year report

9 November 2023

Renewi plc

Half Year Results

for the six months ended 30 September 2023

Renewi plc (“Renewi”, the “Company” or, together with its subsidiaries, the “Group”) (LSE: RWI), the leading European waste-to-product business, announces its results for the six months ended 30 September 2023 (“HY24” or the “period”).

Financial Highlights – in line with guidance from 4 October 2023  

• Revenue of €937m and underlying EBIT1 of €50.7m (HY23: €952m and €75.2m respectively), reflects re-based recyclate prices together with a subdued volume environment in certain commercial waste sectors and particularly construction & demolition (“C&D”)
• Underlying EBITDA of €113.6m (HY23: €131.9m)
• Statutory profit after tax of €35.3m (HY23: €53.4m) and basic EPS of 42 cents (HY23: 66 cents)
• Net cash inflow from operating activities of €88.8m (HY23: €74.0m) due to improvements in working capital
• Core net debt* to EBITDA of 2.1x (March 2023: 1.8x) with core net debt increased to €383.2m (March 2023: €370.6m), in line with expectations

Strategic and Operational Highlights – strong actions in HY24  

Margin focus:

• Renewi 2.0 is now successfully completed and the programme has supported productivity in HY24
• Additional actions to be implemented in H2 to reduce SG&A and other costs by €15m on an annual basis, with capability and capacity retained

Portfolio actions:

• As previously announced, strategic review of UK Municipal on track, targeted outcome in the first half of 2024 
• Strong Q2 performance in Mineralz & Water ("M&W"), following ramp-up of sand and gravel production, with H2 expected to show sharply improved results, in line with the performance enhancement plan

Accelerated growth:

• Successfully commissioned a hard plastics sorting facility in Acht, Netherlands which is expected to achieve at least group hurdle returns over the course of 2024
• The Group had a number of customer wins including the Dutch Ministry of Defence, TotalEnergies and Custodial Institutions Agency
• Renewi’s Specialities business Maltha, continued to achieve record-breaking performance due to operational enhancements and strategic investments. Coolrec maintained strong volumes in the period, though plastics prices were lower

Current trading and outlook – on track to achieve full year expectations

• Full year guidance unchanged from trading update of 4 October 2023
• Revenue stable as a result of targeted commercial initiatives and structural drivers, including Vlarema 8 legislation, expected to support resilient H2 demand across Commercial Waste Belgium, M&W and the Specialities businesses which will mitigate in part continued low levels of C&D activity in the Netherlands
• Significantly stronger EBIT performance in H2 underpinned by continued M&W earnings recovery, the initial contribution from SG&A cost actions, pricing and further productivity initiatives. Further benefits of our margin and portfolio initiatives, together with stabilised recyclate prices and tailwinds generated by Renewi 2.0, underpin confidence in good progress in FY25 

Strategy in place to achieve sustainable improvements in margins and cash conversion in the medium term

• Deliver >5% p.a. organic sales growth through growth initiatives, increased recycling conversion and targeted market share gains
• High single digit EBIT margins 
• Free cash flow generation at least 40% of EBITDA 
• ROCE of over 15% 
• Disciplined capital allocation strategy focused on attractive and sustainable shareholder value whilst maintaining strong balance sheet as outlined at the Group’s Capital Markets Event

Otto de Bont, Chief Executive Officer, said: 

“Our first half performance was in line with our expectations and previous guidance from October. The period saw recyclate prices reverting to more normalised levels, following the unprecedented Covid peak. Volumes mostly stabilised, except in Construction and Demolition waste in the Netherlands. In response, we are taking strong action by reducing our SG&A cost base by €15m on an annual basis.

“Alongside reducing costs, we continue to benefit from previous strategic actions. For example, Mineralz & Water have ramped up production of sand and gravel in our soil cleaning business as of September and we expect to show sharply improved results in H2. We continued to invest in future organic growth; at Maltha the operational enhancements enabled the business to achieve a record-breaking performance in the period. Our Vlarema8 line in Ghent, Belgium started ramp-up in H1 and we also commissioned our hard plastics sorting facility in Acht, Netherlands. All of these actions will contribute to a stronger second half and our medium term strategic objectives. On the commercial front Renewi won a number of significant customers as a result of our strong value proposition, such as the Dutch Ministry of Defence, TotalEnergies and Custodial Institutions Agency. 

“As announced in October, we are undertaking a strategic review of our UK Municipal business, with an outcome targeted for the first half of 2024.  

“As we look forward, our SG&A cost actions and benefits from Renewi 2.0 and the Mineralz & Water recovery are expected to lead to higher profit and margin expansion in the second half of the year and we expect this to flow through to FY25. Renewi's resilience and adept handling of price and cost dynamics have ensured a stable financial position and we reconfirm our intention to resume dividend payments at the end of this financial year. As a company we are proud of the critical role Renewi is playing in closing the loop to a circular economy and we look forward to continuing to enable the decarbonisation of our world while delivering value to our shareholders.” 

The full text of the half year statement is set out below, together with detailed financial results and will be available on the Company's website at www.renewi.com. 

Virtual presentation 

Renewi will host a virtual presentation at 10:30-11:30am CET today. Please register to attend the webcast here:

https://onlinexperiences.com/scripts/Server.nxp?LASCmd=AI:4;F:QS!10100&ShowUUID=C3E612CF-DACD-4EBF-9046-3E245751FAEA&LangLocaleID=1033.

Today’s presentation will also be available on the website once the webcast has concluded https://www.renewi.com/en/investors.  

Results

1 The definition and rationale for the use of non-IFRS measures are included in note 18.

# Certain September 2022 values have been adjusted to reflect a prior year adjustment as referred to in note 2.

* Core net debt used for banking leverage calculations excludes the impact of IFRS 16 lease liabilities and UK PPP net debt.

About Renewi

Renewi is a pure-play recycling company with a focus on extracting value from waste and used materials rather than disposal through incineration or landfill. The company also plays a key role in limiting resource scarcity through the creation of secondary materials, and by so doing addresses both social and regulatory trends and contributes to creating a cleaner, greener world.

Renewi’s vision is to be the leading waste-to-product company in the world’s most advanced circular economies. With a recycling rate of 64% which we believe to be among the highest in Europe, Renewi puts 7m tonnes of low carbon secondary materials back into reuse. This is a significant contribution to climate change mitigation and the circular economy. Our recycling protects virgin resources and avoids emissions of more than 2.5 million tonnes of CO2.

Renewi, which draws on innovation and the latest technology to turn waste into useful materials - paper, metals, plastics, glass, wood, building materials, compost and water - employs over 6,500 people who work on 154 operating sites in 5 countries across Europe and the UK. Renewi is recognised as a market leader in Benelux and a European leader in advanced recycling.

Visit our website for more information: www.renewi.com.

Chief Executive Officer’s Statement

Overview

As announced on October 4th, Renewi delivered performance broadly in line with the Board’s expectations over the first half of FY24 against a backdrop of normalising recyclate prices and subdued economic activity. Year-on-year group revenue and underlying EBIT fell due to lower Commercial Waste volumes, particularly in C&D in the Netherlands and lower recyclate prices following Covid volume and price peaks. Most recyclate prices have now stabilised to levels around historic averages, with the majority of the decline, as well as ongoing inflationary pressures, being mitigated through pricing discipline and the margin benefits from the now completed Renewi 2.0 digitisation programme and other ongoing cost actions.

In Commercial Waste, inbound volumes stabilised in Belgium but continued to decline in the Netherlands during the first half, primarily due to ongoing demand weakness, especially from C&D customers. Pricing actions and cost savings have partially offset the impact of lower volumes, recyclate prices and cost inflation.

M&W’s had a strong Q2 performance, following the ramp-up of throughput. The start of the year was impacted by pulling an annual maintenance stop into the first quarter, which is expected to benefit the division’s results in the second half. Within Specialities, our glass recycling business, Maltha, continued to deliver strong performance, benefitting from the previously made operational enhancements. Coolrec maintained strong volumes, although was affected by lower plastics prices throughout the first half.

Further cost-cutting measures for our SG&A costs at both the divisional and central levels have been initiated in September 2023 and discussions are now being held with the relevant works councils. This initiative will result in a headcount reduction of 160 by 1 December 2023 with an expected cost to deliver of c€4-5m in year.

Group financial performance