In January–June 2022, Suominen’s net sales were in line with the previous year and amounted to €228.3 million ($233.2 million). Sales volumes decreased from H1/2021 while sales prices were higher. The impact of currencies on net sales was positive €12.6 million ($12.9 million).

The net sales of the Americas business area were €126 million ($128.9 million) and of the Europe business area €102.3 million ($104.5 million).

In April–June 2022, Suominen’s net sales increased by 4% from the comparison period to €118 million ($120.5 million). Sales volumes decreased from the very high level of Q2/2021, but sales prices increased following higher raw material prices. The impact of currencies on net sales was €8 million ($8.2 million).

Suominen’s business areas are Americas and Europe. The net sales of the Americas business area were €64.2 million ($65.6 million) and of the Europe business area €53.8 million ($54.9 million).

Petri Helsky, president and CEO, says: “The first half of 2022 was difficult for Suominen. In the second quarter we did not see an improvement in demand for the hard surface disinfectant products which has been suffering from the high inventory levels in the U.S. supply chains. Overall our sales volumes improved slightly from the previous quarter but remained well below the corresponding period last year. What comes to raw materials, energy and transportation, there was another steep hike in these costs in the second quarter. Due to the lag in our sales pricing mechanisms our sales prices did not fully reflect the cost increases. Especially in Europe, the cost inflation was made worse by the war in Ukraine.”

According to Helsky, the company is continuing to identify and implement actions to improve its financial performance. As described in its previous interim report, Suominen implemented an energy surcharge to all its products sold in Europe in mid-March which took effect in Q2. “We have also progressed in our work on widening our product portfolio in the U.S. at the production lines suffering from the inventory imbalance and we expect demand improvement for these lines in the second half of 2022 based on new contracted volumes,” he adds. “On the operations side we have launched a development program to further improve our raw material efficiency.”