Fedrigoni reports Q3 2024 results

Fedrigoni has closed Q3 2024 with revenues of 468.3 million EUR compared to 412.0 million EUR in the same period of 2023 (+13.7 percent) and an adjusted Ebitda of 61.7 million EUR, 8.2 percent higher than the 57.0 million in Q3 2023.  

A growth trajectory confirmed by the results for the first 9 months of the year, which stood at 1.425.4 million EUR in revenues (+8.7 percent compared to 1.311.2 million in January-September 2023) and 221.7 million in adjusted Ebitda (+8.2 percent, up from 204.9 million). 

The group is set to end the year with revenues over 2 billion EUR.  

‘2024 was characterized again by discrete volatility,’ commented CEO Marco Nespolo. ‘We started with good results in the first six months, partially driven by a recovery in the destocking trend across the value chains we serve. In the latter part of the year we had a gradual slowdown mainly due to softening growth in some end markets such as luxury and wine and spirit. Overall it was a pretty positive year that we estimate to close with about 10 percent growth in Revenues and Ebitda. In fact, barring any particular surprises in the last months of the year, we expect 2024 revenues to exceed 2 billion EUR (up from 1.8 billion EUR in 2023) and pro forma Ebitda to exceed 370 million EUR, up about 10 percent from the previous year (337.7 million EUR).’ 

With nearly 6,000 people in 28 countries and 78 plants including production sites, cutting and distribution centers, Fedrigoni sells and distributes its 25,000 products in 132 countries around the world. In 2024 the group kept pursuing its industrial plan and completed four M&A deals: acquisition of a specialty papers plant in China, formerly part of the Arjowiggins Group; minority stake in the start-up SharpEnd as part of the company’s focus on digitized product offerings; acquisition of some assets of Mohawk, the second largest specialty papers player in North America; and acquisition of Poli-Tape, a producer of graphic materials for visual communication. Today it is the world's leading player in wine labels and specialty papers for luxury packaging, the second in drawing papers, and the third in self-adhesive materials and RFID inlays and tags manufacturing, the company reported. 

And it is precisely the RFID business (UHF, HF and NFC) that is becoming increasingly strategic for Fedrigoni, which is capitalizing on this fast-growing market and exploiting all possible synergies within the group, developing for example smart papers and smart labels that enable a wide range of applications such as product authentication, anti-counterfeiting, track and trace, supply chain visibility and improved customer experiences, to name just a few. Fedrigoni RFID business - Tageos, RFID inlays and tags producer that has joined the group in 2022 -, saw revenues for the first nine months of 2024 increase 142 percent compared to those for the same period in 2023 (92.2 million EUR versus 38.1 million EUR); adjusted Ebitda from January to September 2024 even more than tripled from 4.7 million EUR (9M A 2023) to 15.6 million EUR (9M A 2024, +231.9 percent). 

‘We keep growing globally and only 20 percent of our turnover comes from Italy,’ concluded Nespolo. ‘In the coming years we intend to accelerate even harder on our global presence, focusing in particular on North America, Latin America and Asia Pacific. We have an ambitious investment plan to sustain growth over the next four years (2025-2028): over 300 million euros globally, of which about 100 million in Italy, to innovate products and make them more and more sustainable, beautiful and performing, with the aim of replacing plastic wherever possible and enabling full circularity, but also to make our production sites even more efficient, safe and sustainable in terms of environmental impact.’ 

Fedrigoni's strategic plan envisions self-adhesive materials to focus on consolidating its position in premium labels and establishing in graphics and visual communication solutions. In the specialty papers business, the company aim at consolidating leadership in solutions for luxury packaging and high-end creative communication, but also growing in segments such as gift cards, playing cards and smart papers. Finally, RFID inlays and tags are one of the areas with the highest growth potential. With an extensive investment plan of more than 50 million EUR, the group plans to further expand production, sales, and research and development, and to significantly extend the product offerings for a variety of segments such as logistics, retail, luxury goods, healthcare and pharma, food, industrial manufacturing, public transport and ticketing. The goal is to further accelerate the RFID business (Tageos) and continue this successful growth both organically and through new acquisitions.