Financial performance

2022 has been a turbulent year, marked by the Russia Ukraine conflict, record inflation levels as well as a degrading economic outlook. These events and trends have impacted financial performance of all Groups to different extents. The increase in income from operations before exceptional items and amortisation to € 691 million (2021: € 633 million) was offset by an increase in amortisation of intangible assets mainly as a result of the acquisitions by Kiwa and lower exceptional items. Furthermore, NPM Capital generated a lower income from its private equity investments.

Net sales were furthermore impacted by several acquisitions and divestments. Acquisitions by Kiwa of Vinçotte, Intega and CMW Geosciences (+€ 0.4 billion), contributed positively, resulting in a doubling of its sales compared to 2021. This increase was partly offset by the loss of sales related to the stopping of Nutreco’s and Mammoet’s activities in Russia as well as the divestment of ERIKS North-America (-€ 0.3 billion) and the sale of a majority stake in Grupo Sada by Nutreco in Spain.

Improved margins at SHV Energy and ERIKS as well as strong volumes within Mammoet’s non-Russian business contributed to the increase. Nutreco continued to experience very challenging market circumstances affecting both volumes, margins and costs. Performance was impacted by increasing material costs, rising energy costs and inflation that pressured margins. Raising sales prices proved difficult due to deteriorated on-farm economics and farmers reducing herd sizes, following lower demand due to end-consumers decreasing the share of relatively expensive proteins in their diet. Nutreco has been able to limit the impact of these challenges through the execution of short-term cost initiatives and will continue to strongly focus efforts on reducing costs and optimize pricing in 2023.

In addition, the Russia Ukraine conflict had a direct impact on Nutreco and Mammoet, forcing the gradual exiting and stopping of activities, with a negative impact on operating performance of approximately -€ 50 million. These activities have been profitable before 2022 and exiting will result in a reduction of profitability going forward.

Exceptional results amounting to -€ 50 million (2021: +€ 83 million) are the result of a few large effects. The Russia Ukraine conflict resulted in write-off’s associated to the sale of Nutreco’s Russian activities as well as impairments of Mammoet equipment that is locked in Russia, totaling -€ 100 million. Additional impairments in 2022 are related to Venezuela (- € 18 million), Nutreco’s Yangtze plant (-€ 18 million) as well as SHV’s investment in Lightyear (-€ 30 million).

These items are offset by a decrease of the special risk provision totaling € 184 million, which is the result of a broader reassessment of underlying specific risks. The sale of the Makro stores outside Sao Paulo (initiated in 2021) further yielded € 39 million in book profits.

An amount of +€ 56 million (2021: +€ 66 million) has been included in the income from operations.

Amortisation costs grew to € 249 million (2021: € 174 million) caused by increased goodwill mainly associated to Kiwa’s recent acquisitions.

Income from private equity investments and investments in affiliates decreased to € 507 million (2021: € 834 million) and is mainly the consequence of lower income from private equity investments which decreased to € 247 million (2021: € 632 million) due to lower divestment levels by NPM Capital. Income from investments in affiliates increased from € 203 million in 2021 to € 260 million, and is mainly related to SHV’s minority stake in ONE-Dyas, following record high oil & gas prices.

The effective tax rate increased to 43.4% and mainly relates to the higher taxes on income from investments in affiliates related to the result of ONE-Dyas, which was subject to additional UK tax levies in the oil & gas industry.

The investment cash flow was slightly lower totaling € 1,179 million (2021: € 1,292 million), reflecting high sustained investments levels both in growth and replacements, a relative large share of which has been allocated to acquisitions by Kiwa, SHV Energy and NPM Capital.

A total of € 759 million was invested in tangible fixed assets, mainly related to cylinders and tanks in SHV Energy, lifting and transport equipment in Mammoet and expansion of production capacity at Nutreco. As a result, investments remain above current depreciation levels, which totaled € 522 million in 2022. To secure long term growth and supporting Group strategies, several acquisitions have been finalised. These include Vinçotte, Intega and CMW Geosciences by Kiwa, increasing density in the Benelux as well as Kiwa’s global footprint in the US and Australia. NPM Capital successfully acquired equity stakes in Otolift, a market leader in stairlifts and de Variabele and Casper de Haan (renamed to Omdus), both providing sustainability renovation services to the Dutch housing market. To further strengthen current participations several add-on investments were made. In addition, SHV Energy entered the Bangladesh market with the acquisition of Petromax and added Vulcangas to its Italian activities.