Umicore publishes its 2023 Integrated Annual Report

Driving transformation for the future

Umicore has published its Integrated Annual Report: Driving transformation for the future, providing a comprehensive overview of the Group’s strategic, financial, operational and ESG (environmental, social and governance) performance over the year 2023.

“Umicore’s 2023 results demonstrated our ability to deliver strong cash flows and margins in the face of challenging market conditions. 2023 marked also the year of driving the transformation for the future, having established the right foundations for the success of our 2030 RISE Strategy.

Battery Materials made strong progress on its growth trajectory with firm supply contracts serving our global car and battery customers from our ‘local-for-local’ supply chains and with a broad battery technology roadmap. Progress in the decarbonizing of our activities translated into renewable electricity covering more than 40% of our electricity needs, and we strengthened our Management Board with two new roles focused on Technology and on People – core elements of our 2030 RISE Strategy. Those and many more milestones we achieved thanks to the committed involvement of our colleagues worldwide and mean we’re confidently embarking on the next stage of our journey.” 

Mathias Miedreich, CEO of Umicore

Strategic milestones towards 2030 RISE

In Battery Materials for electric vehicles, construction started on its greenfield plant in Canada. This marked the last step in establishing a global battery materials production presence, which is backed by firm long-term supply contracts with car and battery customers worldwide and significant government grants. Umicore’s IONWAY joint venture with Volkswagen’s PowerCo decided to build its first battery materials plant in Nysa, Poland, next to Umicore’s existing plant. Just one-and-a-half years into its 2030 RISE Strategy, Umicore announced in October an order book for battery materials of 190 gigawatt hours (GWh) contracted cathode materials volumes for 2027 and 270 GWh for 2030, while at the same it could lower its expected 2022-26 investment needs to execute the order book. In Catalysis, the groundbreaking of Umicore’s large-scale fuel cell catalyst plant in China marked another milestone, addressing growing demand for green hydrogen. Umicore launched an “Efficiency for Growth” program Group-wide to adapt to an increased challenging global context, while reinforcing its mindset of continuous improvement and delivering on excellence in the execution of its growth trajectory.

Strong cash flows and margins in a tough year

Umicore’s 2023 results demonstrated the Group’s resilience even with significant headwinds from lower PGM (platinum group metals) prices, higher inflation and after having raised its investments for future growth, notably in Battery Materials. Umicore delivered a strong adjusted EBITDA margin of 25% – in line with the 2030 RISE Strategy margin of more than 20% – and a strong operational free cash flow of € 332 million. Those results were achieved thanks to financial discipline, accelerated efficiencies through the launch of its “Efficiency for Growth” program and by expanding the strategic hedging of metals in terms of the duration and proportion of such contracts to the benefit of more predictable cash flows. Slightly higher earnings at Energy & Surface Technologies were due to a one-off contribution from Battery Materials. Catalysis delivered record results for the third consecutive year, while Recycling again reported very high returns on invested capital well above pre-2020 levels.

ESG

Umicore’s Climate Transition Plan underlines our commitment to climate action, resilience and transparency. As such, Umicore progressed in the decarbonization of its activities, with more than 40%  of its electricity needs covered by renewable energy. Its European activities, which include two of Umicore’s largest sites worldwide and located in Belgium, were powered by 57% of renewable electricity. In terms of responsible sourcing, Umicore expanded its sustainable sourcing frameworks and third-party auditing from cobalt to nickel and lithium.

Note

Umicore is committed to fully disclosing its value to, and impact on, society with increased transparency and additional reporting frameworks. The report is published in accordance with the GRI¹ Standards. The extra-financial reporting is aligned with the EU Taxonomy², SASB³ and TCFD⁴.  

Visit the Annual Report website 

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¹ https://www.globalreporting.org/ 
² https://eu-taxonomy.info/ 
³ https://sasb.ifrs.org/ 
⁴ https://www.fsb-tcfd.org/