Essity slides to seven-month low after Q4 EBITA miss

Essity AB (publ)

23/01/2025 08:23

(Updates with stock move, adds milestones in the last bullet)
    ** Shares in Essity  ESSITYa.ST  fall 5.5% after the Swedish
hygiene products maker's Q4 EBITA missed estimates as high raw
material costs and strong USD hurt margins
    ** The company reports Q4 adjusted EBITA of 4.97 billion
Swedish crowns ($450.9 million), below the estimated 5.26
billion seen in an LSEG poll
    ** Prior to releasing the results, late on Wednesday, Essity
said CEO Magnus Groth would step down during 2025
    ** J.P.Morgan sees the Q4 EBITA miss as a downside to 2025;
expects 2025 consensus EBITA/EPS to be revised down low- to
mid-single-digit
    ** "The sequential acceleration in COGS and impact from a
stronger USD is likely to be a concern into H1," JPM says
     ** The shares, at their lowest since July 2024, are on
track for their worst day since July 2023, and are among the
bottom performers on STOXX 600 index  .STOXX 
        
  

($1 = 11.0216 Swedish crowns)

 (Reporting by Marta Frackowiak)
 ((marta.frackowiak@thomsonreuters.com))