ICL ICL Group Ltd

Form 20-F ☒       Form 40-F ☐

ICL Reports Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2023 Results

 

Delivers annual sales of $7,536 million, with adjusted EBITDA of $1,754 million, and

For the fourth quarter of 2023, consolidated sales were $1,690 million versus $2,091 million. Net income was $67 million, with adjusted net income of $123 million, versus $331 million and $358 million, respectively, for fourth quarter 2022. Adjusted EBITDA in the fourth quarter was $357 million versus $698 million. Fourth quarter diluted earnings per share were $0.05, with adjusted diluted EPS of $0.10, versus $0.25 and $0.28, respectively. Operating cash flow was $415 million in the fourth quarter, while free cash flow was $160 million.

 

 

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Segment Information

 

Industrial Products

 

The Industrial Products segment produces bromine from a highly concentrated solution in the Dead Sea and bromine‑based compounds at its facilities in Israel, the Netherlands and China. In addition, the segment produces several grades of salts, magnesium chloride, magnesia-based products, phosphorus-based products, and functional fluids.

 

 

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Significant highlights

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Potash Segment information as of December 31, 2023 (Unaudited)

Potash

 

The Potash segment produces and sells mainly potash, salts, magnesium, and electricity. Potash is produced in Israel using an evaporation process to extract it from the Dead Sea at Sodom and in Spain using conventional mining from an underground mine. The segment also produces and sells pure magnesium, magnesium alloys and chlorine. In addition, the segment sells salt products produced at its potash site in Spain. The segment operates a power plant in Sodom which supplies electricity and steam to ICL facilities in Israel, with surplus electricity sold to external customers.

  

 

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Global potash market - average prices and imports:

 

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Sources: CRU (Fertilizer Week Historical Price: January 2024), SIACESP (Brazil), World Shipping Agenciamentos (WSA), FAI, Brazil and Chinese customs data.

 

 

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Phosphate Solutions Segment information as of December 31, 2023 (Unaudited)

Phosphate Solutions

 

The Phosphate Solutions segment operates ICL's phosphate value chain and uses phosphate rock and fertilizer-grade phosphoric acid to produce phosphate-based specialty products with higher added value, as well as to produce and sell phosphate-based fertilizers.

 

Phosphate specialties sales of $343 million and operating income of $38 million in the fourth quarter of 2023 were approximately 15% and 42% lower, respectively, compared to the fourth quarter of 2022. The decrease in operating income was driven mainly by lower selling prices and sales volumes, partially offset by lower costs of raw materials.

 

Sales of phosphate commodities amounted to $201 million, approximately 10% lower than in the fourth quarter of 2022. Operating income of $36 million decreased year-over-year by $14 million, primarily due to lower prices, partially offset by higher volumes sold and lower raw material costs, mainly sulphur.

 

 

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* For Q4 2023, comprised of $17 million in phosphate specialties and $42 million in phosphate commodities. For Q4 2022, comprised of $13 million in phosphate specialties and $36 million in phosphate commodities.

 

 

Significant highlights

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Global phosphate commodities market - average prices:

 

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Source: CRU (Fertilizer Week Historical Prices, January 2024).

 

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Growing Solutions

 

 

 

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Significant highlights

 

 

 

 

 

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Planned maintenance in certain facilities was shifted from the first quarter of 2024 to the fourth quarter of 2023, as a response to application delays in Europe, mainly due to weather, and Israel, mainly due to the war.

 

 

 

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Financing expenses, net

 

Net financing expenses in the fourth quarter of 2023 amounted to $33 million, compared to $41 million in the corresponding quarter last year, a decrease of $8 million. This decrease is mainly due to a decrease of $10 million in account receivables factoring expenses, partially offset by an increase of $2 million in interest expenses.

 

Tax expenses

 

In the fourth quarter of 2023, the Company’s reported tax expenses amounted to $33 million, compared to $158 million in the corresponding quarter of last year, reflecting an effective tax rate of 28% and 32%, respectively. The Company’s relatively low effective tax rate for this quarter was mainly due to the devaluation of the shekel against the US dollar.

 

Liquidity and Capital Resources

 

As of December 31, 2023, the Company’s cash, cash equivalents, short-term investments and deposits amounted to $592 million compared to $508 million as of December 31, 2022. In addition, the Company maintained about $1.2 billion of unused credit facilities as of December 31, 2023.

 

Outstanding net debt

 

As of December 31, 2023, ICL’s net financial liabilities amounted to $2,095 million, a decrease of $221 million compared to December 31, 2022.

 

Credit facilities

 

 

In April 2023, the Company entered into a Sustainability-Linked Revolving Credit Facility Agreement made between ICL Finance B.V. and a consortium of twelve international banks for a $1,550 million credit facility. The Sustainability-Linked RCF replaced a previous revolving credit facility that was entered into in 2015, as amended and extended in 2018, and which was due to expire in 2025.

 

As of December 31, 2023, the Company had utilized $376 million of the credit facility.

 

 

The total amount of the Company's committed securitization facility framework is $300 million with an additional $100 million uncommitted. As of December 31, 2023, ICL had utilized approximately $182 million of the facility’s framework.

 

Ratings and financial covenants

 

 

In June 2023, Fitch Ratings reaffirmed the Company’s long-term issuer default rating and senior unsecured rating at 'BBB-'. The outlook on the long-term issuer default rating is stable.

 

 

In July 2023, the S&P credit rating agency reaffirmed the Company’s international credit rating and senior unsecured rating of 'BBB-'. In addition, the S&P Maalot credit rating agency reaffirmed the Company’s credit rating of 'ilAA' with a stable rating outlook.

  

 

As of December 31, 2023, the Company was in compliance with all of its financial covenants stipulated in its financing agreements.

 

 

Dividend Distribution

 

In connection with ICL’s fourth quarter 2023 results, the Board of Directors declared a dividend of 4.76 cents per share, or approximately $61 million. The dividend will be paid on March 26, 2024. The record date is March 14, 2024.

 

About ICL

 

ICL Group Ltd. is a leading global specialty minerals company, which creates impactful solutions for humanity’s sustainability challenges in the food, agriculture, and industrial markets. ICL leverages its unique bromine, potash, and phosphate resources, its global professional workforce, and its sustainability focused R&D and technological innovation capabilities, to drive the Company’s growth across its end markets. ICL shares are dual listed on the New York Stock Exchange and the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (NYSE and TASE: ICL). The Company employs more than 12,500 people worldwide, and its 2023 revenue totaled approximately $7.5 billion. For more information, visit the Company’s website at www.icl-group.com1.

 

We disclose in this quarterly report non-IFRS financial measures titled adjusted operating income, adjusted net income attributable to the Company’s shareholders, diluted adjusted earnings per share, and adjusted EBITDA. Our management uses adjusted operating income, adjusted net income attributable to the Company’s shareholders, diluted adjusted earnings per share, and adjusted EBITDA to facilitate operating performance comparisons from period to period. We calculate our adjusted operating income by adjusting our operating income to add certain items, as set forth in the reconciliation table under “Adjustments to reported operating, and net income (non-GAAP)” below. Certain of these items may recur. We calculate our adjusted net income attributable to the Company’s shareholders by adjusting our net income attributable to the Company’s shareholders to add certain items, as set forth in the reconciliation table under “Adjustments to reported operating, and net income (non-GAAP)” below, excluding the total tax impact of such adjustments. We calculate our diluted adjusted earnings per share by dividing adjusted net income by the weighted-average number of diluted ordinary shares outstanding. Our adjusted EBITDA is calculated as net income before financing expenses, net, taxes on income, share in earnings of equity-accounted investees, depreciation and amortization, and adjust items presented in the reconciliation table under “Consolidated adjusted EBITDA, and diluted adjusted Earnings Per Share for the periods of activity” below, which were adjusted for in calculating the adjusted operating income. Commencing with the year 2022, the Company’s “adjusted EBITDA” calculation is no longer adding back “minority and equity income, net“. While “minority and equity income, net” reflects the share of an equity investor in one of our owned operations, since adjusted EBITDA measures the Company’s overall performance, its operations and its ability to satisfy cash needs, before profit is allocated to the equity investor, management believes that adjusted EBITDA before deduction of such item is more reflective.

 

You should not view adjusted operating income, adjusted net income attributable to the Company’s shareholders, diluted adjusted earnings per share or adjusted EBITDA as a substitute for operating income or net income attributable to the Company’s shareholders determined in accordance with IFRS, and you should note that our definitions of adjusted operating income, adjusted net income attributable to the Company’s shareholders, diluted adjusted earnings per share, and adjusted EBITDA may differ from those used by other companies. Additionally, other companies may use other measures to evaluate their performance, which may reduce the usefulness of our non-IFRS financial measures as tools for comparison. However, we believe adjusted operating income, adjusted net income attributable to the Company’s shareholders, diluted adjusted earnings per share, and adjusted EBITDA provide useful information to both management, and investors by excluding certain items that management believes are not indicative of our ongoing operations. Our management uses these non-IFRS measures to evaluate the Company's business strategies, and management performance. We believe that these non IFRS measures provide useful information to investors because they improve the comparability of our financial results between periods and provide for greater transparency of key measures used to evaluate our performance.

 

We present a discussion in the period-to-period comparisons of the primary drivers of change in the Company’s results of operations. This discussion is based in part on management’s best estimates of the impact of the main trends on our businesses. We have based the following discussion on our financial statements. You should read such discussion together with our financial statements.

 

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Calculation of adjusted EBITDA was made as follows:

 

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Calculation of diluted adjusted earnings per share was made as follows:

 

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 ICL Group Limited Q4 2023 Results 16

Consolidated Results Analysis

 

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* See "Adjustments to reported Operating and Net income (non-GAAP)" above. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The following table sets forth sales by geographical regions based on the location of the customers:

 

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This announcement contains statements that constitute “forward‑looking statements”, many of which can be identified by the use of forward‑looking words such as “anticipate”, “believe”, “could”, “expect”, “should”, “plan”, “intend”, “estimate”, “strive”, “forecast”, “targets” and “potential”, among others.

 

Forward‑looking statements appear in a number of places in this announcement and include, but are not limited to, statements regarding our intent, belief or current expectations. Forward‑looking statements are based on our management’s beliefs and assumptions and on information currently available to our management. Such statements are subject to risks and uncertainties, and the actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied in the forward‑looking statements due to various factors, including, but not limited to:

 

Changes in exchange rates or prices compared to those we are currently experiencing; loss or impairment of business licenses or mineral extractions permits or concessions; volatility of supply and demand and the impact of competition; the difference between actual reserves and our reserve estimates; natural disasters and cost of compliance with environmental regulatory legislative and licensing restrictions including laws and regulation related to, and physical impacts of climate change and greenhouse gas emissions; failure to "harvest" salt which could lead to accumulation of salt at the bottom of the evaporation Pond 5 in the Dead Sea; disruptions at our seaport shipping facilities or regulatory restrictions affecting our ability to export our products overseas; general market, political or economic conditions in the countries in which we operate; price increases or shortages with respect to our principal raw materials; delays in termination of engagements with contractors and/or governmental obligations; the inflow of significant amounts of water into the Dead Sea which could adversely affect production at our plants; labor disputes, slowdowns and strikes involving our employees; pension and health insurance liabilities; Pandemics may create disruptions, impacting our sales, operations, supply chain and customers; changes to governmental incentive programs or tax benefits, creation of new fiscal or tax related legislation; and/or higher tax liabilities; changes in our evaluations and estimates, which serve as a basis for the recognition and manner of measurement of assets and liabilities; failure to integrate or realize expected benefits from mergers and acquisitions, organizational restructuring and joint ventures; currency rate fluctuations; rising interest rates; government examinations or investigations; disruption of our, or our service providers', information technology systems or breaches of our, or our service providers', data security; failure to retain and/or recruit key personnel; inability to realize expected benefits from our cost reduction program according to the expected timetable; inability to access capital markets on favorable terms; cyclicality of our businesses; changes in demand for our fertilizer products due to a decline in agricultural product prices, lack of available credit, weather conditions, government policies or other factors beyond our control; sales of our magnesium products being affected by various factors that are not within our control; our ability to secure approvals and permits from the authorities in Israel to continue our phosphate mining operations in Rotem Amfert Israel; volatility or crises in the financial markets; hazards inherent to mining and chemical manufacturing; the failure to ensure the safety of our workers and processes; litigation, arbitration and regulatory proceedings; exposure to third party and product liability claims; product recalls or other liability claims as a result of food safety and food-borne illness concerns; insufficiency of insurance coverage; closing of transactions, mergers and acquisitions; war or acts of terror and/or political, economic and military instability in Israel and its region; including the current state of war declared in Israel and any resulting disruptions to our supply and production chains; filing of class actions and derivative actions against the Company, its executives and Board members; The Company is exposed to risks relating to its current and future activity in emerging markets; and other risk factors discussed under ”Item 3 - Key Information— D. Risk Factors" in the Company's Annual Report on Form 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2022, filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) on February 28, 2023 (the “Annual Report”).

 

Forward looking statements speak only as at the date they are made, and we do not undertake any obligation to update them in light of new information or future developments or to release publicly any revisions to these statements in order to reflect later events or circumstances or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.

 

This report for the fourth quarter of 2023 (the “Quarterly Report”) should be read in conjunction with the Annual Report and the report for the first, second and third quarter of 2023 published by the Company (the “prior quarterly report”), including the description of the events occurring subsequent to the date of the statement of financial position, as filed with the U.S. SEC.

  

 ICL Group Limited Q4 2023 Results 19

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