(BFM Bourse) – The wood pellet specialist is taking a hit on the stock market after revealing a sharp drop in its billings in the second quarter. For the remainder of the 2023-2024 financial year, management preferred to opt for a resolutely cautious tone.
This week, France is affected by an exceptional cold episode. Temperatures are now moving into the negative over a large part of France.
Ideal temperatures for Cogra, the Lozère producer of wood pellets for heating. But now, this episode of cold comes too late for the group which suffered a sudden drop in its activity in the second quarter of its staggered financial year (from October to December). Cogra actually saw its billings plunge by 18.6% over the period, to 13.6 million euros.
The company attributes this decline to the mild climate at the start of winter, thus limiting heating needs. Ultimately, the company saw its billings only increase by 5.6% to 26.7 million euros for its first half (July to December).
An unfavorable base effect
Cogra was hardly able to compare with a dynamic first half of 2022-2023, the company then achieved growth of 25% between July and December 2022. Last year, the wood pellet producer benefited massively from the craze consumers for “wood energy” considered ecological and above all economical, in the face of soaring prices for “traditional” energy including gas, fuel oil and electricity.
“The previous year was marked by the energy crisis which particularly favored wood energies,” recalls Cogra. The level of activity for the first quarter of 2023-2024 (+48.8%) “also reflected the build-up of anticipation stocks” for the current winter.
On the stock market, it is also a big blow for Cogra. Like the temperatures in France, the wood energy specialist is moving into negative territory and plunges 12% to 10.9 euros this Tuesday afternoon.
A cautious tone for 2023-2024
In this context, management preferred to opt for a resolutely cautious tone and did not venture to communicate any numerical objective for its 2023-2024 financial year.
“We still have too few elements from management and are faced with too many unknowns (price, volume, or even more exogenous factors, such as the evolution of temperatures) to provide any kind of forecast. unreliable”, deplores EuroLand Corporate. The financial intermediary, however, adjusts its turnover forecast for the whole of 2023-2024 to 56 million euros, i.e. the low end of the range indicated in its October note devoted to Cogra.
By way of outlook, Cogra simply explains that it has “assets”, namely: “a modern and efficient production tool, significant storage capacities which ensure the quality of its pellets over the long term and a loyal customer base. and diverse.
In this market described as “disrupted” by Cogra, the company says it remains “listening to external or organic growth opportunities that would meet its long-term vision of profitable growth and respect for forestry.”
Sabrina Sadgui – ©2024 BFM Bourse
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