Frequently asked questions

What is Kemira’s vision and strategy?

Our vision is to be the first choice in chemistry for water intensive industries.

Kemira is a great product company with chemistry and selling of chemicals at the core of our business. We win with best suited products and tailored services that improve our customers product quality, process and resource efficiency. Our target is to grow above-the-market with an operative EBITDA margin of 15-18%.

Read more about Kemira’s strategy.

What drives growth in Kemira’s markets?

Changing demographics and growing environmental awareness are two most important trends driving growth of Kemira’s end markets.

Changing demographics

A growing middle-class population, particularly in Asia-Pacific, is expected to result in higher use of water, which will ultimately drive the demand for water treatment chemicals. Changing lifestyles and growth in e-commerce, partly driven by higher income per capita, will lead to higher need for packaging solutions globally. This will further boost the demand for pulp and paper chemicals; Kemira’s core expertise.

Growing environmental awareness

The overall sustainability trend, including more efficient use of natural resources and higher need for recyclable products, is expected to be beneficial for Kemira’s end-markets. Kemira’s solutions enable its customers to use resources, water included, more efficiently. One particular trend, the replacement of plastic packaging, is expected to drive growth of fiber-based packaging solutions. This in turn is expected to increase the demand for pulp and paper chemicals.

In which businesses does Kemira operate?

Kemira is a global leader in sustainable chemical solutions for water intensive industries. We provide best suited products and expertise to improve our customers’ product quality, process and resource efficiency. We have two segments: Pulp & Paper and Industry & Water.

In Pulp & Paper, we provide the following solutions:

• bleaching chemicals: to purify and bleach pulp
• sizing and strength chemicals to improve the strength and hydrophobicity of packaging and paper
• various performance and functional chemicals to improve process and resource efficiency of paper and pulp mills

Pulp & Paper: Revenue split by customer type and by product category

In Industry & Water, we provide the following solutions:

• coagulants and polymers for wastewater and freshwater treatment for both municipal and industrial customers
• Oil & Gas: products to reduce friction in shale oil
• Oil & Gas: polymers to enable a better yield of existing conventional oil fields (Chemical Enhanced Oil Recovery)
• Oil & Gas: solutions for oil sands tailings treatment

Kemira announced in March 2023 that it is reviewing strategic options for its Oil & Gas business, including a possible sale of the business. The strategic evaluation process of our Oil & Gas business is ongoing. We have not communicated a more detailed timetable and we will communicate about the end results of this process in due time.

Industry & Water: Revenue split by application type and by product category

Where does Kemira want to grow?

Kemira has expressed interest to grow in water treatment applications, also via acquisitions. Firstly, possible acquisitions could be related to market consolidation in Kemira’s more mature markets in EMEA and North America, where Kemira already has a strong presence. Secondly, new technologies and competencies could be also be possible as these would complement Kemira’s current product offering of coagulants and polymers to its water treatment customers. Thirdly, Kemira could also look at possible acquisition targets in the APAC market to strengthen its presence there. Currently Kemira has only a small presence in the growing APAC water treatment market.

We want to grow in water-related applications

Rounded to nearest 5%

Where does Kemira operate and what are the most important countries by sales?

The U.S. is the largest country in terms of sales and it accounted for 27% of revenue in 2022. Finland, the second largest country by sales, accounted for 15%.

Revenue split by country:

Is Kemira’s business seasonal or cyclical?

Overall, Kemira has a very resilient business model, which is not very prone to economic cycles. Kemira produces consumable chemicals that are used in customers’ processes, such as wastewater treatment or at pulp and paper mills. The shale part of the Oil & Gas business is cyclical following fluctuations in the oil price.

Kemira’s revenue typically is somewhat Q2 and Q3 weighted. The main driver behind this is Kemira’s Oil & Gas business, where revenue is typically Q2 and Q3 weighted due to the Northern Hemisphere summer, when oil related activities are the highest.

Who are Kemira’s main competitors?

Kemira’s competitors vary by segment and region.

Who are Kemira’s main shareholders?

Kemira’s two largest public shareholders are Oras Invest and Solidium. See monthly updated list of Kemira’s largest shareholders.

What is Kemira’s dividend policy?

Kemira updated its dividend policy in 2020. Kemira’s dividend policy aims at paying a competitive and over time increasing dividend.

How many shares does Kemira management own?

See updated list of Kemira management’s shareholding.

When is the dividend paid?

The dividend payout date varies from year to year. For the fiscal year 2022 the dividend be paid in two installments: one in the spring and one in the autumn. Read more information on historical dividend.

When was Tikkurila spun off from Kemira? What is Tikkurila’s acquisition price for taxation purposes?

Tikkurila was listed in 2010. Read more in the stock exchange release of March 11, 2010.
The taxation value of Tikkurila’s price in Finnish taxation is 15,80 EUR (the weighted average share price of the first trading day, March 26, 2010).

What are Kemira’s financial targets?

Kemira has three financial targets:

• Faster than market revenue growth
• Operative EBITDA 15-18%
• Gearing below 75%

Read more about Kemira’s financial targets.

How do exchange rate fluctuations impact Kemira?

Main impact on Kemira comes via translation impact. Transaction risk is limited as revenues and costs are typically in the same currency as Kemira operates in most cases locally and has local production close to its customers. If there is any transaction risk, it is mostly hedged.

For modeling purposes, a 10% change in Kemira’s main foreign currencies would have approximately a EUR 15 million impact on operative EBITDA on an annualized basis.

Kemira’s reporting currency is the EUR, which accounted for 44% of revenue in 2022. Please see below for the currency distribution by revenue and costs.

Is Kemira exposed to raw material fluctuations?

Kemira is a significant buyer of various raw materials due to the nature of its business. The annual raw material spend is around 1 BNEUR, which is split into oil & gas derivatives and non-oil related raw materials.

Please see below for a more detailed split:

How are Kemira’s customer contracts structured?

Majority of Kemira’s contracts have fixed annual pricing while around 30% of customer contracts are formula-based and tied to some component (e.g., electricity price). In Pulp & Paper around 95% of contracts are 1 year or longer; in Industry & Water, around 70% of contracts are 1 year or longer.

What is Kemira’s financing base?

Read more; Kemira’s debt information

How large a share of Kemira’s revenue is allocated to R&D?

In 2022 R&D expenses were EUR 33.4 million or around 0.9% of revenue.

What are Kemira’s sustainability targets?

Kemira has identified five sustainability focus areas: safety, people, water, circularity and climate.

Which United Nation’s Sustainability Goals (SDGs) are most important for Kemira?

Kemira has identified the following SDGs to be of most material impact:
SDG6 Clean water and sanitation
SDG8  Decent work and economic growth
SDG12 Responsible consumption and production
SDG13 Climate action

How will sustainability drive Kemira’s business?

Kemira’s customers are increasingly focused on the environmental impacts of their operations. Following consumer pressure, there is increasing demand for biodegradable and recyclable products and also for products enable more sustainable processes.

Over 50% of Kemira’s revenue comes from products that improve customers resource efficiency. One of Kemira’s objectives is also to increase its revenue from biobased products. The aim is to reach 500 MEUR in biobased revenue by the end of 2030 from around  EUR 100 million in 2019 (2022: ~ EUR 250 million).

How does Kemira ensure sustainability in its supply chain?

Kemira has thousands of suppliers and Kemira’s sourcing function is globally responsible for strategic spend management. Kemira’s suppliers are segmented into four categories: strategic, critical, volume and base suppliers. Kemira conducts supplier performance evaluations, and all suppliers are expected to adhere to Kemira’s Code of Conduct for Business Partners.

A more detailed description is available in Kemira’s Sustainability Report 2022.

Supplier and supplier risk and compliance management

How does Kemira report on sustainability?

Kemira’s Sustainability report is included in the Annual Review.  The Sustainability Appendix is aligned with Global Reporting Initiative (GRI). The report has been assured by an external third party. In its Interim Reports, Kemira follows the progress of its sustainability targets. Kemira also actively participates in third-party sustainability surveys, such as CDP, MSCI, Sustainalytics and EcoVadis.