The year at a glance

Key events

  • Acquisition of BSN medical, a leading medical solutions company, was closed on April 3, 2017.
  • On April 5, 2017, the Annual General Meeting of SCA decided, in accordance with the Board of Directors’ proposal, to distribute all shares in Essity Aktiebolag (publ) to SCA’s shareholders.
  • On June 15, 2017, Essity Aktiebolag (publ) was listed on Nasdaq Stockholm.
  • Financial targets for Essity Group were announced: Annual organic sales growth of above 3% and adjusted return on capital employed of above 15%.
  • The hygiene business in India was discontinued.
  • Decision was taken on restructuring measures in tissue production in the UK and US.
  • Decision on investment in tissue operations in Mexico and the UK, and Baby Care operations in Europe.
  • Collaboration with Microsoft on the Internet of Things to further strengthen Essity’s innovation agenda.
  • Convening partner to the fifth annual meeting of the UN Foundation Dialogue on the Global Agenda held at the UN headquarters in New York. Discussions concerned how to achieve the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals.
  • CDP, an international not-for-profit charity that promotes a more sustainable economy, named Essity as global leader in initiatives for water and wood fiber-based materials and awarded the company its highest score.
  • Recognized as one of the world’s top 100 most sustainable companies by Corporate Knights.
  • Received honorary recognition at the European Paper Recycling Awards held by the European Parliament for its work on Tork PaperCircle™, the world’s first recycling service for paper hand towels.

Key figures

(XLS:) Download

 

2017

 

2016

 

SEK

EUR4)

 

SEK

EUR4)

1)

Excluding items affecting comparability.

2)

Indicative on the assumption that the number of issued shares in Essity as of December 31, 2016 corresponded to the number of issued shares in Essity on December 31, 2017 (702.3 million).

3)

Excluding items affecting comparability and amortization of acquisition-related intangible assets.

4)

See footnote 1) in table Consolidated income statement and in table Consolidated balance sheet for exchange rates.

5)

Dividend proposed by the Board of Directors.

6)

Lost Time Accidents.

7)

Share of Essity´s innovations that yielded social and/or environmental improvements.

Net sales, SEKm/EURm

109,265

11,343

 

101,238

10,706

EBITA, SEKm/EURm

12,550

1,303

 

9,347

989

Adjusted EBITA1), SEKm/EURm

13,405

1,392

 

11,992

1,268

EBITA margin, %

11.5

 

 

9.2

 

Adjusted EBITA margin1), %

12.3

 

 

11.8

 

Operating profit, SEKm/EURm

11,905

1,236

 

9,008

953

Adjusted operating profit1), SEKm/EURm

12,845

1,334

 

11,833

1,251

Operating margin, %

10.9

 

 

8.9

 

Adjusted operating margin1), %

11.8

 

 

11.7

 

Profit before tax, SEKm/EURm

10,723

1,113

 

8,173

865

Adjusted profit before tax1), SEKm/EURm

11,663

1,211

 

10,998

1,163

Profit for the year, SEKm/EURm

8,785

912

 

4,242

449

Adjusted profit for the year1), SEKm/EURm

9,472

983

 

6,643

703

Earnings per share, SEK

11.56

 

 

5.412)

 

Adjusted earnings per share3), SEK

13.09

 

 

8.992)

 

Cash flow from current operations per share, SEK

12.45

 

 

12.192)

 

Equity per share, SEK

70.58

 

 

56.132)

 

Dividend per share, SEK

5.755)

 

 

 

 

Strategic capital expenditures, including acquisitions, SEKm/EURm

–28,146

–2,922

 

–8,573

–907

Divestments, SEKm/EURm

29

3

 

369

39

Equity, SEKm/EURm

49,570

5,039

 

39,580

4,141

Return on capital employed, %

13.9

 

 

12.8

 

Adjusted return on capital employed1), %

14.9

 

 

16.4

 

Return on equity, %

19.8

 

 

9.3

 

Adjusted return on equity1), %

21.3

 

 

14.5

 

Debt/equity ratio

1.06

 

 

0.89

 

Debt/equity ratio, excluding pension liabilities

0.99

 

 

0.76

 

Average number of employees

46,385

 

 

42,149

 

No. of employees at Dec. 31

47,700

 

 

42,520

 

Accident frequency rate, (LTA6)/1,000,000 WH)

3.8

 

 

4.1

 

People and nature innovations7), %

42

 

 

41

 

Net sales and adjusted EBITA margin1)

Net sales and adjusted EBITA margin (bar and line chart)

1) Excluding items affecting comparability.

Adjusted EBITA1)

Adjusted EBITA (bar chart)

Cash flow from current operations

Cash flow from current operations (bar and line chart)

Accident frequency rate

Accident frequency rate (bar chart)

2) Lost Time Accidents.

Net sales 2017 by region

Net sales 2017 by region (map)

Net sales 2017 by country, SEKm

Net sales 2017 by country (bar chart)

Essity educated more than 2.5 million in hygiene and health

Mother holding her baby (photo)

100,000 parents-to-be

More than 100,000 parents-to-be took part in courses on breastfeeding, nutrition and hygiene, and how childbirth affects women and women’s bodies.

Child washing hands (photo)

300,000 children

Almost 300,000 children and young people took part in courses about hand hygiene through initiatives in schools, and via the popular and educational app “Ella’s hand washing adventure”.

Nurse helping old woman (photo)

100,000 nurses

More than 100,000 nurses and other caregivers were trained in incontinence care, skincare, dementia, lymphology and wound care across the globe.