Nevertheless, Umicore’s foundation businesses remained robust, delivering an overall performance in line with expectations.
Umicore’s Group revenues for 2024 amounted to € 3.5 billion versus € 3.9 billion in 2023. The adj. EBIT for the Group stood at € 478 million (-29% compared to 2023) and the adj. EBITDA at € 763 million (-22% compared to 2023). The 2024 Group adj. EBITDA margin amounted to 22%.
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Battery Materials reported decreased revenues compared to 2023. This reflects lower CAM sales volumes and lower refining income, as well as the absence of a non-recurring lithium effect impacting the year-on-year comparison. Lower revenues, combined with costs related to ongoing expansions - albeit in the meantime strictly minimized - resulted in a decrease in adj. EBITDA versus the previous year. In addition, 2023 adj. EBITDA was supported by a substantial non-recurring positive effect2. The 2024 adj. EBITDA for the Business Group was close to break-even3 as per expectations4. ROCE for the Business Group was -4.9%.
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Catalysis delivered another impressive performance in 2024. Revenues declined versus the previous year with volumes in Automotive Catalysts affected by a less favorable customer mix in the light-duty segment and a difficult market environment in the heavy-duty diesel segment. Revenues for Fuel Cells & Stationary Catalysts remained stable compared to the previous year, while revenues for Precious Metals Chemistry declined. Against this backdrop, the Business Group delivered an outstanding performance, keeping earnings in line with the record levels of previous year, reflecting structural efficiency and value focused initiatives. ROCE of the Business Group amounted to 40.4%.
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Recycling reported lower revenues and earnings compared to the previous year, mainly driven by lower volumes in Precious Metals Refining and the impact of a less supportive precious metals price environment in Precious Metals Management. The impact on earnings was partially mitigated by efficiency measures. ROCE stood at 78.3%.
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Specialty Materials’ revenues were slightly down compared to 2023. ROCE was 9.1%. As anticipated, adj. EBITDA decreased versus the previous year, mainly resulting from the competitive market context in Cobalt and Specialty Materials impacting the chemicals refining and distribution activities.
Over the past year, Umicore significantly stepped up its efficiency focus across the Group, generating more than € 100 million in EBITDA, ahead of its € 70 million target, which partially countered the difficulties of a tough market and the impact of falling metal prices.
Given the slower-than-expected growth in demand for electric vehicles, Umicore decided to pause construction of the battery materials plant in Loyalist, Canada, and to strictly limit further footprint expansion, focusing on its existing facilities in Europe and Korea to serve its customers’ commitments. As a result, capital expenditures decreased by 35% in 2024 compared to 2023, totaling € 555 million for the full year versus € 857 million. In addition, Umicore contributed € 175 million equity in IONWAY, its joint venture with Volkswagen’s PowerCo.
Free operating cash flow remained strong at € 384 million (compared to 332 million in 2023), driven by a decrease in net working capital and lower investments.
Net financial debt amounted to € 1.4 billion on 31 December 2024, corresponding to a net debt/ LTM adj. EBITDA ratio of 1.87x. The Group remains committed to a strong balance sheet going forward. The Group ROCE amounted to 12.3%.
Outlook 2025
The global economic landscape continues to be disrupted by persistent geopolitical tensions leading to limited visibility on end market demand. Umicore is navigating this volatile environment by maintaining its focus on resilience, adaptability, and efficiency across the Group. Against this backdrop, Group adj. EBITDA is expected to be in the range of € 720 million to € 780 million.
These projections are based on the current market conditions and geopolitical landscape as of the date of publication of this press release. The provided outlook for 2025 does not include any assumptions on the potential impact of the introduction of tariffs.
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Based on the current limited market visibility and the delayed ramp-up of customer contracts, adj. EBITDA of the Battery Materials Business Group is expected to remain roughly in line with the previous year, as anticipated.
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It is anticipated that Catalysis will continue to benefit from Automotive Catalysts’ strong market position as well as its continued efforts to maximize business value. As a result, 2025 adj. EBITDA of Catalysis is expected to be around the level of the outstanding performance of the previous year.
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Assuming current metal prices are to prevail, and considering the current metal hedges in place, the 2025 adj. EBITDA for the Recycling Business Group is projected to be below the level of 2024. The decrease in earnings is mainly attributed to the anticipated gradual roll-off of favorable precious metals price hedges in the Precious Metals Refining business, which will be partially compensated by efficiency measures and a robust underlying operational performance.
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For Specialty Materials, adj. EBITDA is expected to benefit from increased efficiency measures, as well as strong performance in specific end markets. This is expected to result in a slight increase in 2025 adj. EBITDA versus 2024.
It is anticipated that Corporate costs will be lower in 2025 compared to 2024.
In the spirit of strictly minimizing capital expenditures in the Battery Materials business, Group capital expenditures for 2025 are anticipated to be 20% lower versus 2024. This excludes the equity contributions to the IONWAY joint venture with PowerCo5.
Building on the strong value management in 2024, the outlook for 2025 includes an additional year-on-year € 100 million EBITDA impact from efficiency improvements, on top of the initial target of more than € 100 million. This significantly contributes to offsetting the impact of metal hedges that are gradually tailing off.
Dividend policy
The Supervisory Board will propose a gross annual dividend of €0.50 per share for 2024 at the Annual General Meeting on 24 April 2025. This is a reduction from the €0.80 per share paid for 2023. Considering the interim dividend of €0.25 per share paid in August 2024, a gross amount of €0.25 per share will be paid on 30 April 2025, subject to shareholder approval. Based on the closing share price on 31 December 2024 of €9.96, the dividend yield amounts to approximately 5%.
Given the current context, the Supervisory Board intends to reset the gross annual dividend of € 0.50 as the new baseline for future dividend payout on which to apply its policy of "stable or rising" dividends and discontinues the practice of paying an interim dividend.
Umicore’s Capital Markets Day to be held on March 27th, 2025
Umicore’s Capital Markets Day is scheduled for March 27th, 2025, in London (afternoon CET). During the event, Umicore’s CEO, Bart Sap, will present the outcomes of the strategic review and the mid-term plan for the Battery Materials business. Along with the Executive Leadership Team, Bart will outline the added value of the Umicore Group as well as the mid-term objectives for the various Business Groups. More details are available on the Umicore website.
1 All references to revenues in this document refer to revenues excluding metals (i.e. all revenue elements less the value of the following purchased metals: Au, Ag, Pt, Pd, Rh, Co, Ni, Pb, Cu, Ge, Li and Mn).
2 Related to lower costs from mass production test runs and the valuation of battery production scrap.
3 Including positive one-off’s of c. € 40 million.
4 Refer to the Half Year Results 2024 press release “Update on strategic review of the Battery Materials activities and impairments” and “2024 Outlook".
5 For more information see the Financial Review section of the press release (see link below).
For more information
Investor Relations
Media Relations
Financial calendar
21 March 2025 Publication of the annual report 2024
24 April 2025 Annual General Meeting
28 April 2025 Ex-dividend trading date
29 April 2025 Record date for the dividend
30 April 2025 Payment date for the dividend
1 August 2025 Half year results 2025
Umicore profile
Umicore is the circular materials technology Group. It focuses on application areas where its expertise in materials science, chemistry and metallurgy make a real difference. Its activities are organized in four business groups: Battery Materials, Catalysis, Recycling and Specialty Materials. Each business group is divided into market-focused business units offering materials and solutions that are at the cutting edge of new technological developments and essential to everyday life.
Umicore generates the majority of its revenues and dedicates most of its R&D efforts to clean mobility materials and recycling. Umicore’s overriding goal of sustainable value creation is based on an ambition to develop, produce and recycle materials in a way that fulfils its mission: materials for a better life.
Umicore’s industrial and commercial operations as well as R&D activities are located across the world to best serve its global customer base with more than 11,500 employees. The Group generated revenues (excluding metal) of € 3.5 billion (turnover of € 14.9 billion) in 2024.
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A conference call and audio webcast for analysts and investors will take place today at 08:30 AM CET. Media are welcome to attend and listen to the live audio webcast and can direct their questions to Umicore Media Relations.
Acces the webcast via this link and the full Press Release via this link.
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