RUBIS: H1 2022 results: Strong earnings growth: +20% and solid balance sheet

Paris, 8 September 2022, 5:45pm

H1 2022 RESULTS:

STRONG EARNINGS GROWTH: +20%

AND SOLID BALANCE SHEET

+20% increase in adjusted EPS amid challenging environment, first time consolidation of Photosol:

• H1 2022 volumes: 2,826 km3, +7% vs H1 2021 and 3% ahead of pre-Covid levels (H1 2019[1]).
• Strong unit profit[2] in the context of rising supply prices: +6% vs H1 2021.
• H1 2022 EBIT: €244m, +30% vs H1 2021, supported by all regions (+14% vs H1 2019).
• Adjusted net income[3]: €169m, +17% vs H1 2021, ahead of the record pre-Covid level of H1 2019 (+10% vs 2019 excluding Rubis Terminal).
• Adjusted EPS (diluted): €1.64, +20% vs H1 2021, ahead of the record pre-Covid level of H1 2019 (+5% vs 2019 excluding Rubis Terminal).
• Operational cash flow before changes in working capital[4]: €255m, +7% vs H1 2021 and +16% vs pre-Covid H1 2019 (excluding Rubis Terminal).
• Corporate net financial debt[5] (corporate NFD) at €1,102m, 2.1x corporate NFD/EBITDA pre-IFRS 16, vs €438m as of 31/12/2021. Increase in net debt is due to the completion of Photosol acquisition, outflow from changes in working capital and dividend payment.
• Net financial debt (NFD) at €1,436m, 2.6x net debt/EBITDA pre-IFRS 16, includes Photosol €334m non-recourse project debt at SPV level.

Outlook

The first half of the year has demonstrated excellent volumes and earnings growth. While all regions posted positive development, the Caribbean region was the main growth driver with strong recovery post-Covid and favourable comparison base. Whereas comparison base is set to normalise and current macro-environment is challenging, the Group is confident in solid earnings growth for the full year 2022.

In the mid-and long-term, the company should benefit from numerous growth drivers - newly added renewable energy segment as well as within its historical business. The latter has advantage of its exposure to regions with growing population and growing energy demand, portfolio improvement in Eastern Africa and exposure to bitumen in Africa considering the growing need for road infrastructure on the long term.

Given the current geopolitical environment, the Group reminds that it does not carry out any transactions in Ukraine or Russia and does not have any assets in these territories. In addition, it does not source from Ukrainian or Russian suppliers. To date, even if the Group has not identified any direct exposure to this risk, it will continue to monitor developments in the situation and their potential impact on its activities, as well as the indirect effects of the conflict on the sector's global supply chain.

Paris, 8 September 2022 – Rubis is announcing its 2022 half-year financial results.

The Group's condensed consolidated financial statements as of 30 June 2022 were reviewed by the Supervisory Board on 8 September 2022. The Group's Statutory Auditors have performed their review of these financial statements and their report on the half-yearly financial information was issued on the same date.

During the Supervisory Board meeting, the Management Board commented on the results: "Half-year results show an excellent operational performance across all regions. This is especially the case in the Caribbean region that has reported impressive growth above expectations.

Moreover, the company has accomplished its strategic entry into renewable energy segment with transformational acquisition of Photosol – one of the leading independent French solar companies and its first-time consolidation from 1st April 2022.

The timing of the Photosol acquisition is extremely interesting in the view of the Russia-Ukraine crisis, the predicted gas shortage and as a result the government's initiatives to strengthen and accelerate the energy transition. The government in particular targets to reduce deadlines and adjust thresholds for the submission of building permits, with a particular focus on photovoltaic and wind energy.

With the development of over 3 GW pipeline, Photosol set to contribute to Rubis earnings growth in the mid- and long-term. Required investments are set to be debt-financed by Photosol on the project level.

As such, Rubis historical business with its strong cash flow generation will further sustain shareholder friendly dividend policy and value enhancing bolt-on acquisitions across all divisions”. 

First half of 2022 was excellent with 30% increase in EBIT to €244m exceeding record H1 2019 - pre-Covid level. All businesses have reported solid EBIT performance: Retail & Marketing with 26% increase in EBIT to €184m, Support & Services up 22% to €75m and first-time positive contribution from Photosol at €1m for three months, April to June 2022. Rubis Terminal JV has continued its steady growth with 3% in storage revenues and 4% in adjusted EBITDA in H1 2022 vs H1 2021. 

H1 2022 results have several non-recurring items both positives and negatives mostly due to the acquisition of Photosol (-€8m after tax) and divestment of the Turkey depot of the Rubis Terminal JV (+€11m after tax). Adjusted for non-recurring items and IFRS 2 charges, net income stands at €169m, +17% yoy and ahead of pre-Covid record H1 2019 (+10% excluding Rubis Terminal).

Operational cash flow before changes in working capital[6] reached €255m (+7% vs H1 2021 and exceeding pre-Covid H1 2019 level).

Acquisition of Photosol in April 2022 has an important impact on Rubis balance sheet. With excellent long-term visibility thanks to 20 years contract duration and very low risk profile, Photosol is able to finance its development pipeline with high debt leverage. It is important to note that the majority of the debt is non-recourse project debt at SPV level. Thus, going forward Rubis will communicate separately on its total financial debt and on its corporate financial debt (i.e., excluding non-recourse project debt).

Rubis corporate net financial debt (corporate NFD) increased to €1,102m by the end of H1 2022 (from €438m as of FY 2021) with corporate NFD/EBITDA pre-IFRS 16 at 2.1x. Dividend paid 100% in cash in June 2022 (€191m), acquisition of 80% stake in Photosol (€341m) and changes in working capital with increasing oil prices (€179m outflow) were the main factors behind the increasing debt. The Company has spent €97m on CapEx split between expansion maintenance (two thirds) and development (one third), including €12m of CapEx for Photosol in Q2 2022.

Consolidated financial statements as of 30 june 2022

(1) Renewable Energy – newly established division following acquisition of Photosol.

(2) Adjusted net income – excluding non-recurring items and IFRS 2.

(3) Cash flow from operations after financial expenses and taxes and before change in working capital.

The Retail & Marketing division (70% of Group EBIT[7]) includes the distribution of fuels (service-station networks), liquefied gases, bitumen, commercial fuel oil, aviation, marine and lubricants in three geographic areas: Europe, the Caribbean and Africa.

Overall, volumes are +7% compared to H1 2021 with excellent development in East Africa (focus on the service-station network) and buoyant aviation driven by tourism and end of Covid-linked restriction measures.

Volumes sold by region in H1 2019-2021

Gross profit reached €367m, up 13% vs 2021, driven by both volume and solid unit margin development across all regions.

Retail & Marketing division gross and unit profit in H12022

• Europe, thanks to its strong LPG positioning and unit margin performance, reported EBIT of €46m, up 21% vs H1 2021, and above pre-Covid level in 2019 (€39m).
• The Caribbean region has seen marked improvement in H1 2022, driven by recovery in tourism/aviation, with both volumes and unit margin up double digit. Thus, EBIT was up 78% yoy to €58m.
• Lastly, Africa reported an excellent development in East Africa with double-digit EBIT growth thanks to the investments in the service-stations optimisation programme. Though partially offset by ongoing challenges in Madagascar, reported EBIT came in at €81m, only 6% increase yoy.

EBIT by ReGION H1 2019 – 2022

The Support & Services division (30% of Group EBIT[8]) posted +22% increase in EBIT to €75m supported by recovery in the Caribbean region with supply and shipping activities, strength of the bitumen sector and logistics in the Indian Ocean.

EBIT support & services IN H1 2019 – 2022

Newly established Renewable Energy division includes Photosol activities, acquired in April 2022, as well as the 18.5% stake in HDF Energy, acquired in June 2021. Creation of this division and future investments will enable the Group to achieve a target of 25% of its EBITDA in renewable energies in the medium term, with a minimum of 2.5 GW of installed photovoltaic capacity in France by 2030.

The accounts of Photosol have been included in the Group's consolidation from 1st April 2022, i.e., for a period of three months to 30 June 2022.

REsults of the renewable energy divsion in h1 30 juin 2022

As of 30 June 2022, Photosol portfolio consists of:

• 476 MW secured portfolio - capacities in operations, under construction and awarded projects;
• development pipeline exceeding 3 GW, out of which 1,2 GW advanced development and tender ready projects and 2,3 GW in early stage.

The last CRE tender was a great success for Photosol with 100% of its bids awarded, or 25 MWp.

The Rubis Terminal JV has delivered solid performance with +3% storage revenue growth to €112m, with acceleration in Q2 2022 (+5%), driven by biofuel, chemicals and agri-food. Adjusted EBITDA has increased by +4% to €57m in H1 2022. With high financial leverage in place, share of Rubis underlying profit stood at €1.8m in H1 2022 vs €1.2m in H1 2021. With the sale of its activities in Turkey in January 2022, Rubis has recorded capital gain, that boosted reported share of profits to €11.4m. It is reminded that Rubis Terminal generates on annual basis free cash flow after tax, financial charges, and maintenance investment of €40-50m, which compared to total equity of €594m (for 100%) gives a cash return of 9%.

ESG

In 2022, Rubis actively pursues the implementation of its Think Tomorrow 2022-2025 Roadmap and its climate approach. In particular, the Group is assessing additional decarbonisation opportunities to align with a well-below 2°C trajectory, including developing an emission reduction target for scope 3A (i.e., excluding products sold) in addition to the one defined for scopes 1 and 2 (-30% in 2030, baseline 2019, Rubis Énergie perimeter at constant scope) and setting an internal carbon price that will help it guide its investments.

Webcast for the investors and analysts

Date: 8 September 2022, 6:00pm

Link to register for the webcast: https://channel.royalcast.com/rubisen/#!/rubisen/20220908_1

Participants from Rubis:

• Jacques Riou, Managing Partner
• Bruno Krief, CFO
• Clarisse Gobin-Swiecznik, Managing Director in charge of New Energies, CSR, and Communication

Next publication:

Q3 2022 trading update: 8 November 2022 (after market)

This document is a translation of the original French document and is provided for information purposes only. In all matters of interpretation of information, views or opinions expressed therein, the original French version takes precedence over this translation

appendix

Reconciliation of net income Group share to adjusted net income Group share

Composition of net debt/EBITDA excluding IFRS 16

Retail & marketing volume development by product in H1 2022

RETAIL & MARKETING VOLUME DEVELOPMENT BY REGION IN Q2 2022

Retail & marketing Gross profit IN H1 2019-2022

RETAIL & MARKETING unit PROFIT IN H1 2019-2022

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL POSITION

 CONSOLIDATED INCOME STATEMENT

 CONSOLIDATED STATEMENT OF CASH FLOWS

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENT OF CASH FLOWS (CONTINUED)

(1) Including change in fair value of financial instruments, IFRS 2 expense, goodwill (impairment), etc.

(2) The impact of changes in the scope of consolidation is described in note 3.

(3) Net financial interest paid includes the impacts related to restatements of leases (IFRS 16).

(4) Cash and cash equivalents net of bank overdrafts.

(5) See note 15.

[1] Volumes H1 2022 at +3% vs H1 2019 at constant scope, i.e., excluding East Africa (KenolKobil acquisition).

[2] Unit margin or unit profit = gross profit per unit of distributed volumes.

[3] Adjusted net income – net income excluding non-recurring items and IFRS 2 charges, for more details see Annex. 

[4] Operational cash flow before changes in working capital (French “Capacité d’autofinancement”) = cash flow after taxes and net interest costs and before change in working capital.

[5] Corporate net financial debt – net financial debt excluding non-recourse project debt at SPV (special purpose vehicle) level. Corporate net debt/EBITDA is the ration of corporate net debt to EBITDA pre-IFRS16 and excluding Photosol SPV EBITDA.

[6] Operational cash flow before changes in working capital (French “Capacité d’autofinancement”) = cash flow after taxes, net interest costs and before change in working capital.

[7] 70% of Group EBIT before Holding costs in FY 2021.

[8] 30% of Group EBIT before Holding costs in FY 2021.