Highlights:
- Ansell has committed to achieve net zero by 2030.
- Sales during financial year 2022 declined in comparison to the previous year.
- In financial year 2023, the company expects lower earnings.
Health and safety protection solution provider Ansell Limited (ASX:ANN) on Thursday (10 November 2022) shared that its surgical gloves business is suffering because of the government enforced shutdown of a manufacturing facility in Malaysia at the beginning of 2022 and global supply chain-related disruptions.
The chairman’s (John A Bevan) address highlighted that pandemic brought Ansell’s PPE industry to the forefront globally.
Key highlights of AGM
- During the financial year 2022 (FY22), the company committed to achieving net zero by 2040. By 2030, the company aims 42% reduction in Scope 1 and 2 emissions.
- Neil I Salmon, CEO said that the external environment was challenging in FY22 in comparison to the previous year.
- The demand for those products declined ‘sharply’, which were in demand during the Covid-19 driven pandemic.
- The first phase of greenfield investment in India was completed, and packaging operations began there for surgical gloves.
- By FY24, the company expects to complete its India facility.
- The company has completed the construction of a single use expansion in Thailand.
- In FY23, the company expects lower revenues because prices continue to normalise in single use and examination gloves.
- The company expects to experience a loss in earnings as it exits from Russian operations amid Ukraine and Russia war.
- The demand for chemical protective clothing and examination gloves remained affected during the year.
- Some of the group’s larger life science and industrial distributors in the US and Europe are introducing plans to decrease their inventory levels of life science portfolios and single use styles.
- Sales during FY22 fell but were above the pre Covid-19 levels.
- Earnings per share (EPS) decreased on a yearly basis but improved in comparison to the previous half.
- The adjusted EBIT declined by 27.5% over the previous year.
Guidance for FY23
According to ASX filing, the company has maintained the earnings per share guidance range of US115 cents – US135 cents for FY23. Ansell mentioned that the final EPS outcome is expected to be in the lower half of the guidance range.
Share performance of Ansell
At 2:56 PM AEDT, the shares of Ansell were spotted trading 1.80% lower at AU$27.76 per share. With this, in the past five trading sessions, the share price decreased by 1.51% and fell by 13.63% in a year.