Anora’s result fell short of low expectations – a sharp drop in Monopoly sales

Alcohol company Anora reports its results for the third quarter.

In July–September, the company’s comparable operating result was 8.5 million euros, while it was 11.8 million euros in the comparison period a year ago.

The turnover for the company in the autumn quarter was 162.7 million euros, while a year ago it was 173.0 million euros.

The company is followed by a total of four analysts, whose average forecast for the operating result was 11.3 million euros and for the turnover 167.7 million euros.

In October, the company issued a profit warning, which already signaled that the quarter had gone poorly. As expected, the company kept the instructions given then unchanged. Anora’s comparable EBITDA is expected to be EUR 65–70 million this year, compared to EUR 68.2 million last year.

In 2024, the company’s main market volumes are expected to be slightly lower than in 2023 due to the challenging economic situation in the operating environment.

Monopoly sales are falling

“Our market weakened more than predicted in September, and the monopolies’ sharp drop in volume had a significant impact on our quarter’s profit development, which also led to a decrease in profit guidance for the whole year,” the company’s outgoing CEO Jacek Pastuszka comment in the results announcement

“In Finland, the decline in monopoly sales was accelerated by the import of alcoholic beverages containing a maximum of 8% alcohol by volume into grocery stores.”

“As the country’s leading wine company and thanks to our production facility located in Rajamäki, we are in a unique position to seize this opportunity. As a result of the successful launch of our new wine selection, we achieved a leading position in the Finnish grocery store.”

In the company’s Spirits segment, the market fell in all monopoly markets. Turnover increased in Sweden, but decreased in all other countries. According to the company, the turnover of the Industrial segment was negatively affected by the lower sales prices and production volumes of ethanol and by-products, while the volume of contract manufacturing improved as expected compared to the previous year after a slower start to the year.