Hilding Anders January EBITDA Up 37% YoY as Margins Remain Resilient but Foam Prices Expected to Rise; Askona Sale Limbo Leaves Restructuring on Ice

Swedish mattress maker Hilding Anders got off to a strong start in January, with earnings well ahead of budget and above the same period last year, helped by resilient margins. However the group cautioned that prices of foam, a key raw material, could start rising again in February, sources noted.

Hilding generated €48.1 million of sales in January, which was in line with the €47.9 million budgeted but marginally behind the €49.1 million for the same month last year. Sales were boosted by Chinese New Year pre-orders, which offset underperformance in the DACH region, Finland and Norway.

EBITDA reached €3.7 million, beating both the €3.3 million the group had budgeted and the €2.7 million it generated in January 2022. That was largely driven by higher margins as Hilding continued to benefit from lower raw material costs.

The group's cash balance dropped to €56.9 million at the end of January from €65.9 million at the end of December, driven by a €14.2 million trade working capital build-up.

For the full-year 2023, Hilding generated €567.2 million of sales versus €615.8 million budgeted and €598.6 million in 2022, while EBITDA came to €43.9 million versus €45.2 million budgeted and €37.1 million the prior year.

Restructuring on Ice

Hildings’ restructuring, which was approved via scheme of arrangement in December and under which lenders provided €20 million of super senior new money and were set to take control of the group from sponsor KKR in a debt-for-equity swap, was due to complete on March 31, 2024.

However, one of the conditions of the restructuring was the completion of the sale of Askona, Hilding’s Russian JV, as well as securing all the necessary regulatory approvals, including any sanctions related and merger-control approvals. The company signed an agreement in December to sell its Russian joint venture, Askona, back to the founder and minority shareholder Vladimir Sedov for around €100 million, but has been unable to secure the relevant regulatory approvals so far. As a result, KKR will remain in control of Hilding for the time being, sources noted.

Hilding’s capital structure as of Dec.31, 2023, is below:
 
According to Reorg’s CLO database, Hilding’s loans are held by the following managers. Click HERE to see the holders in the database.