HIGHLIGHTS
- Pulp sales of 2,761 thousand tons (stable vs. 4Q22).
- Paper sales³ of 386 thousand tons (14% vs. 4Q22).
- Adjusted EBITDA1 and Operating cash generation²: R$4.5 billion and R$2.8 billion, respectively.
- Adjusted EBITDA1/ton of pulp of R$1,360/ton (-48% vs. 4Q22).
- Adjusted EBITDA1/ton3 of paper of R$1,936/ton (-27% vs. 4Q22).
- Net average pulp price in export market: US$572/ton (-31% vs. 4Q22).
- Average net paper price3 of R$6,732/ton (-5% vs. 4Q22).
- Pulp cash cost ex-downtime of R$816/ton (-13% vs. 4Q22).
- Leverage of 3.1 times in USD and 3.0 times in BRL.
- Cerrado Project completes 86% of physical progress and 78% of financial progress.
2023 was one more year when the Company continued to move ahead its strategy and, despite a challenging first semester marked by declining pulp prices, market sentiment improved significantly, especially in the second half of the year. The improvement in fundamentals sustained a sequence of price increases, which led to higher adjusted EBITDA in this segment in 4Q23. Cash production cost excluding scheduled maintenance downtimes decreased significantly between 4Q23 and 4Q22 (-13%), reaching its lowest level since 4Q21. EBITDA from the paper business unit once again exceeded R$3 billion in a year, also benefited from the effect of the acquisition of Kimberly Clark’s tissue business in the second half of the year and remaining practically in line with the record set in 2022. As such, consolidated adjusted EBITDA came to R$18.3 billion in 2023, with the same indicator contributing with R$4.5 billion in 4Q23.
As for financial management, net debt in USD remained stable, in comparison to the previous quarter, at US$11.5 billion. Leverage in USD ended the year at 3.1 times, remaining fully within the Company’s debt policy. The increase compared to 3Q23 occurred basically due to the decrease in Adjusted EBITDA in the last 12 months. The foreign exchange hedging policy continued to play its part, bringing in a positive cash inflow of R$1.2 billion in the quarter and a positive cash adjustment of R$3.6 billion in the year.
details at: https://s201.q4cdn.com/761980458/files/doc_news/2024/02/4t23/Release-de-Resultados_4T23_ENG_vf.pdf